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THE  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF 
THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 


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MAY  18  19V 

PLAIN  STUDIES   IN  "^^ulAL   St^t^ 


OUR  LORD'S  SERMON 
ON  THE  MOUNT  #  # 


GEORGE   F.  GENUNG,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA 

American  JBaptfst  IPublication  Society 

igco 


Copyright  igoo  by  the 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society 


Ifiom  tbc  Soclctt!'B  own  Ipress 


For  men  begin  to  pass  their  vatiire^ s  bound, 

^nd  find  new  hopes  and  cares  which  fast  supplant 

Their  proper  joys  and  griefs ;  and  outgrow  all 

The  narrow  creeds  of  right  and  wrong,  which  fade 

"Before  the  unmeasured  thirst  for  good ;  while  peace 

Ibises  within  them  ever  more  and  more. 

— 'Browning 


PREFACE 


It  is  universally  agreed  that  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  is  an  utterance  of  cardinal  significance  in 
its  relation  to  that  divine  kingdom  which  Christ 
came  to  set  up  in  the  hearts  of  men.  What  that 
relation  is,  however,  is  a  question  that  has  received 
various  answers.  The  title  here  chosen  may  per- 
haps suggest,  as  well  as  a  single  phrase  could,  the 
idea  to  which  the  present  study  of  that  discourse 
has  led.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  not  a  code 
or  digest  of  specific  commands,  nor  is  it,  though 
indeed  in  imperative  form,  a  manifesto,  summariz- 
ing those  intentions  of  the  King  which  mere  extra- 
neous authority  is  adequate  to  enforce.  It  proposes 
a  kind  and  degree  of  obedience  which  only  the  free 
and  loving  impulse  of  the  regenerate  heart  can 
make  good.  Meeting  us  on  the  threshold  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  it  determines  for  us  our  status, 
where  we  stand,  as  free  and  loyal  subjects,  in  the 
sight  of  God  and  in  the  presence  of  our  true  life. 
We  may,  therefore,  borrow  Dr.  Augustus  Nean- 
der's  phrase  and  call  it  the  "  Magna  Charta  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,"  our  great  charter,  not,  like  that 
old  document  at  Runnymede,  extorted  by  angry 
subjects  from  a  reluctant  king,  but  graciously 
originated  by  the  King  himself,  who  is  also  our 
representative,  and  laying  down  a  divine  law  such 


VI  PREFACE 

as  no  subject  could  or  would  have  devised,  yet 
expressing  the  subject's  willing  allegiance  as  no 
contrivance  of  his  could  ever  do. 

The  following  chapters  are  called  plain  studies, 
because  they  aim  to  set  forth  in  direct  and  simple 
terms,  without  rhetoric  and  without  theological 
technicalities,  the  main  lines  of  truth  followed  in 
the  great  discourse,  as  they  should  be  viewed,  not 
by  scholars  only,  but  by  ordinary  thinking  men. 
The  standards  of  interpretation  here  sought  are 
just  the  standards  of  a  devout  common  sense.  No 
elaborate  exposition  is  attempted,  and  many  of  the 
momentous  truths  and  implications  of  the  discourse 
are  merely  suggested,  not  followed  out  in  detail. 
This  way  seemed  best,  however,  in  working  out 
the  writer's  main  intention,  which  is  to  indicate 
the  underlying  unity  that  binds  its  precepts  to- 
gether and  the  fundamental  relation  of  its  teaching 
to  all  Christian  ethics.  And  the  reader  who  shall 
catch  the  spirit  which  is  recognized  as  the  central 
spring  of  this  discourse  and  of  all  true  Christian 
obedience  will,  it  is  hoped,  find  this  attempt  com- 
mended to  his  Christian  consciousness  as  substan- 
tial truth. 

That  the  book  may  do  good  by  promoting  a 
clearer  understanding  of  the  New  Testament  ethi- 
cal standpoint  is  the  earnest  prayer  of  the  author. 

Richmond,  January,  1900 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Teacher  and  his  Authority i 

II.  The  Morality  which  is  the  World's  Savor  and 

Light 23 

III.  Relation   of  the   Morality   ok  Enthusiasm  to 

Law 47 

IV.  Righteousness  whose  Reward  is  of  the  Earth  71 
V.  The  Heavenly  Treasure 99 

VI.  Correctives  of  Egoism     121 

VII.  The  Susceptibility  of  Obedience 143 


THE  TEACHER  AND  HIS  AUTHORITY 


Matt.  7  .•  2Q 


He  taught  them  as  one  having  authority. 

Imagine  a  mountain  region  and  a  bright,  clear, 
summer  morning.  A  great  crowd  of  people  is 
coming  together  from  every  part  of  Palestine,  all 
with  expectant  faces  and  with  eager,  inquiring  at- 
titudes and  words.  As  the  sun  rises  higher  in 
the  heavens  the  throng  steadily  increases.  We 
hear  the  low  hum  of  conversation  as  men  every- 
where engage  in  inquiry  or  discussion.  Here  is  a 
group  of  men  with  malignant  faces  watching  nar- 
rowly every  movement  of  the  crowd,  and  appar- 
ently ill  able  to  brook  the  state  of  feeling  which 
draws  so  great  an  assemblage  to  this  remote  place. 
Here  we  come  across  a  group  listening  in  open- 
eyed  wonder  to  one  of  their  number  who  is  nar- 
rating the  story  of  some  marvelous  cure.  At 
every  few  steps  we  see  a  litter  with  a  groaning 
sufferer  upon  it ;  for  people  have  brought  their 
sick  with  the  hope  of  having  them  healed.  Now 
and  then  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  some  poor,  emaci- 
ated invalid  making  his  laborious  way  through  the 
crowd,  seeking  for  a  sight  of  the  healer  whom  he 
has  come  here  to  meet.  So  all  is  stir  and  expecta- 
tion. The  great  crowd  grows  gradually  more  com- 
pact in  a  level  plain  at  the  base  of  a  considerable 
elevation  from  whose  rugged  summit  they  are  evi- 
dently expecting  somebody  to  descend. 

3 


4         MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

Presently  there  is  a  stir  in  the  crowd  as  their 
eyes  catch  sight  of  people  approaching  on  the 
sides  of  the  mountain.  A  young  man  with  a 
heavenly  calmness  and  dignity  of  manner  comes 
toward  the  plain.  Men  are  instinctively  reverent 
in  his  presence ;  and  yet,  as  he  approaches  nearer, 
his  aspect  reveals  nothing  to  fear.  In  his  eye  is 
the  light  of  an  indescribable  love.  The  most  sin- 
ful seem  drawn  toward  him  ;  and  there  radiates 
from  him  an  ineffable  influence  which  is  felt  to  be 
universally  healing  in  its  nature. 

He  is  accompanied  by  twelve  plain  men,  his 
disciples.  After  a  night  spent  in  prayer  on  the 
mountain,  he  has  just  chosen,  from  the  large 
number  of  those  who  would  attach  themselves  to 
him,  these  twelve  as  his  apostles.  Their  number 
suggests  a  new  and  spiritual  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel ;  and  this  act  of  setting  them  apart  is  but 
one  interesting  movement  suggestive  of  founda- 
tion-laying in  what  seems  to  the  people  a  mar- 
velous era  of  new  beginnings.  All  through 
northern  Syria  there  is  the  stir  of  expectant  life ; 
a  great  multitude  has  come  together  as  his  avowed 
disciples,  while  many  more  are  eager  to  hear  his 
words  and  to  be  healed  of  their  diseases.  On  his 
approach  there  is  almost  a  stampede  in  the  crowd 
as  they  press  forward  to  touch  him. 

After  he  has  passed  through  the  people  and 
healed  their  sick,  he  takes  his  seat  on  a  rise  of 
ground  with  the  listening  multitude  at  his  feet. 
He  begins  to  speak  and  they  hang  spellbound 
upon  his  words.  The  text  cited  at  the  beginning 
chronicles  the  impression  which  his  discourse  pro- 


THE    TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHORITY  5 

duces  upon  them.  It  excites  wonder,  for  they 
find  it  in  great  contrast  to  the  teaching  of  the 
scribes.  Jesus  conies  to  them  as  a  living  teacher, 
fresh  from  personal  contact  with  eternal  truth ; 
not  retailing  musty  traditions,  and  afraid  to  assert 
anything  except  as  it  is  authorized  by  the  learning 
of  some  rabbi.  It  is  a  great  change  from  their 
accustomed  experience  with  the  scribes  to  hear 
one  speak  who  has  an  eye  that  can  see  truth,  and 
a  courage  that  is  not  afraid  to  utter  it. 

"■He  taught  them  as  one  having  aiitJiorityy  The 
authority  meant  is  the  authority  of  a  lawgiver  or 
commander.  The  teacher  impressed  his  audience 
as  one  who  was  conscious  of  a  moral  kingship  and 
a  right  to  be  obeyed.  He  stood,  as  it  were,  at 
the  very  source  from  which  obligation  proceeds. 
He  does  not  speak  as  if  his  authority  to  command 
were  derived  from  any  outside  source;  he  does 
not  refer  his  auditors  to  the  means  for  authenti- 
cating his  utterances.  It  is  as  if  the  words  which 
he  spoke  were  finally  true  and  compelling. 

Let  us  observe  the  method  of  the  divine  teacher. 
At  the  outset  we  must  endeavor  to  divest  our- 
selves of  the  prepossessions  which  we  have  inher- 
ited from  centuries  of  religious  history  and  wor- 
ship, and  assume  in  imagination  the  attitude  of 
this  audience  on  the  slopes  of  the  mountain  to- 
ward the  wonderful  Galilean.  To  us  a  word  from 
the  Master  is  the  end  of  controversy,  because  we 
accept  him  as  divine.  His  heavenly  rank  is  taken 
without  question  as  authenticating  his  truth.  But 
to  the  people  who  listened  to  his  words  this  pre- 
supposition is  not  present.     They  have,  it  is  true. 


6    MAGNA  CHAKTA  (JK  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

heard  of  his  wonderful  works,  and  many  reverence 
him  as  a  prophet ;  but  there  is  no  such  putting 
forward  of  divine  claims  as  to  make  the  burden  of 
authority  rest  on  the  person  or  rank  of  the  teacher. 
In  fact,  we  note  an  absence  of  personal  assertion. 
He  has  no  occasion  to  begin  by  explaining  who  he 
is.  While  he  contrasts  himself  and  so  makes  him- 
self of  equal  rank  with  the  teachers  of  old  time  by 
his  majestic  "But  I  say  unto  you,"  he  is  never- 
theless not  calling  upon  his  hearers  to  believe  be- 
cause he  says  it,  but  because  his  message  is  true. 

And  this  is  the  true  way  to  teach  moral  doc- 
trine, even  when  it  is  proclaimed  as  by  authority. 
People  must  gain  an  ownership  of  the  truth, 
rather  than  be  silenced  by  awe  of  the  promulgator. 
When  Elihu,  with  his  arrogant  confidence  in  his 
own  knowledge,  professed  to  be  the  truth-revealing 
daysman  for  whom  Job  wished  in  his  perplexity, 
he  said : 

Behold  ;;/)'  terror  shall  not  make  thee  afraid, 
Neither  shall  my  pressure  be  heavy  upon  thee. 

So  likewise  Jesus,  the  eternal  Daysman,  does  not 
begin  by  making  his  personal  pressure  heavy  upon 
men.  There  is  no  making  prominent  just  now  of 
fulfillments  of  prophecy ;  there  is  no  resting  on 
the  endorsement  of  those  who  decide  on  the  claims 
of  new  prophets.  In  this  discourse  Jesus  does 
not  even  appeal  to  his  mighty  works.  There  will 
no  doubt  be  occasion  for  all  these  means  of  main- 
taining his  standing  when  other  exigencies  are  to 
be  met.  But  here  he  simply  opens  his  mouth  and 
teaches.     To   the   multitude   he  is   nothing   more 


THE    TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHORITY  / 

nor  less  than  a  new  teacher;  and  the  power  of 
his  teaching  to  rule  them  is  to  be  established  by 
its  own  worthiness  of  acceptation.  His  words 
shall  stand  by  the  strength  of  their  own  inherent 
truthfulness.  For  the  present  purpose  it  matters 
not  who  the  speaker  is ;  let  the  truth  appear  with 
no  terror  of  his  to  make  men  afraid.  The  final 
test  of  its  authority  is  in  itself. 

Truth  which  thus  stands  in  its  own  strength  is 
not  careful  to  borrow  cogency  from  logic.  Indeed, 
its  authority  is  not  made  stronger  by  any  process 
of  reasoning.  As  we  consider  this  fact  we  are 
prepared  to  understand  another  characteristic  of 
the  Master's  method.  He  does  not  argue;  he 
proclaims.  He  does  not  prove;  he  asserts.  He 
deals  in  truth  rather  than  in  what  is  called  thought. 
It  is  truth  which  he  sees,  and  which  every  soul  to 
whom  it  comes  will  see  as  soon  as  that  soul  is 
honest  with  itself. 

Facts  or  principles  that  can  be  made  common 
by  reasoning  are  not  the  highest  kind  of  truth. 
There  are  truths  which  come  to  light  only  in  the 
direct  converse  of  the  soul  with  eternal  reality. 
The  obedient  heart  sees  them  directly  ;  and  the 
only  thing  it  can  do  to  establish  them  is  to  commit 
itself  to  them  and  transmute  them  into  living  ex- 
perience. Of  this  character  are  the  distinctive 
truths  of  Christ's  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The 
main  thing  we  have  to  do  in  order  to  enable  men 
to  receive  them,  is  to  awaken  their  spirits.  The 
mists  to  be  cleared  away  are  not  the  obscurities  of 
imperfect  logic,  but  the  fumes  of  unsanctified 
affection  and  selfish  will.      Sinful  men  are  indeed 


8    MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  K1N(;D0M  OF  GOO 

blinded  to  the  truths  of  the  kingdom,  but  this  is 
not  because  they  are  such  poor  reasoners;  it  is 
because  sin  blinds  their  eyes.  The  prophets  of 
God  are  not  occupied  with  proving  divine  truths  ; 
they  are  set  to  proclaim  them  in  the  strength  of 
the  Lord  God,  and  to  bring  men  into  obedience  to 
their  commands.  When  men's  hearts  are  in  the 
right  attitude  toward  God  they  will  see,  and  not 
till  then. 

The  truth  to  which  Jesus  brings  our  conscience 
here  in  this  discourse  is  truth  such  as  we  have 
enough  kinship  with  him  to  recognize  when  it  is 
pointed  out  to  us.  In  proportion  as  we  enter  into 
the  relation  of  obedient  sons  to  God  we  may  see 
it.  We  are  not  to  acknowledge  without  seeing, 
and  merely  because  he  is  in  authority  and  has  said 
it ;  we  may  see  and  know  for  ourselves  when  it  is 
once  pointed  out  to  us.  This  is  the  kind  of  au- 
tiiority  by  which  he  speaks.  It  is  authority  pro- 
ceeding from  God,  but  it  has  the  endorsement  of 
all  that  is  most  like  God  in  ourselves.  The  ulti- 
mate edicts  of  our  Infinite  King,  when  they  are 
discovered,  are  not  found  to  be  arbitrary  and  out- 
side of  us,  but  intimately  blended  with  our  own 
nature,  the  very  law  of  our  being.  He  who  com- 
mands most  truly,  therefore,  is  he  who  testifies 
most  clearly  of  the  nature  of  true  humanity;  he  is 
really  a  witness  to  the  facts  of  our  highest  selves. 
It  is,  therefore,  as  a  witness  that  Jesus  speaks,  even 
when  uttering  the  words  of  a  lawgiver. 

But  it  should  be  noticed  that  he  is  a  peculiar 
kind  of  witness.  He  is  a  witness  who  derives 
confirmation   from   our  assent.     A  common   eye- 


THE    TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHORITY  9 

witness  to  a  simple  matter  of  fact  is  ultimate  au- 
thority, because  he  testifies  to  matters  beyond  our 
observation,  and  which  we  have  no  means  of  veri- 
fying or  disputing.  But  Christ  speaks  as  witness 
to  an  inward  truth  which  our  conscience  can  and 
must  verify  when  we  attain  to  the  point  of  view 
for  it.  He  does  not  reason,  but  he  offers  us  the 
means  of  attaining  to  that  spiritual  elevation  where 
we  may  see  for  ourselves.  The  method  which  has 
sometimes  been  adopted  of  figuring  out  the  nature 
of  Christ's  claims  to  be  the  world's  teacher,  is 
somewhat  beside  the  mark.  He  has  been  treated 
purely  as  a  witness  to  an  outside  fact.  The  method 
has  been  to  examine  his  credibility  apart  from  the 
contents  of  his  testimony ;  that  is,  to  establish  his 
character  as  supernatural  by  means  of  his  miracles, 
and  then  to  rest  the  truth  of  his  message  on  his 
competence,  thus  ascertained,  to  speak  of  things 
beyond  our  sphere.  But  in  fact  we  are  to  take 
him  and  his  message  together;  we  are  to  judge  by 
independent,  sanctified  judgment  of  the  worthiness 
of  his  doctrine  to  be  received  as  divine  truth.  We 
must  see  not  simply  that  he  is  supernatural,  and 
therefore  speaks  the  truth,  but  that  he  is  the  truth  ; 
is  the  very  Word  of  God  made  flesh.  He  is  a  wit- 
ness, but  he  is  a  witness  to  that  which  belongs  to 
the  highest  human  nature,  to  all  spiritual  existence 
which  is  one ;  and  we  may  become  so  elevated  and 
normal  in  our  perceptions  that  we  shall  be  of  that 
higher  spirit,  and  all  that  is  within  us  shall  rise  up 
and  endorse  his  doctrine. 

If  we  are  of  God,  as  Jesus  elsewhere  expresses 
it,  we  hear  God's  words.     To  believe  in  Christ,  in 


lO   MAGNA  CHAKTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

its  highest  sense,  is  to  be  in  that  state  of  obedience 
to  God  in  which  we  shall  see  that  he  is  the  truth. 
We  do  not  imply  doubt  or  irreverence  when  we  in- 
sist on  seeing  it  for  ourselves.  We  honor  the  truth 
in  this  way ;  for  until  we  have  seen  it,  we  have  not 
given  it  a  sway  over  our  hearts. 

Yet  it  is  as  one  having  authority  that  Jesus 
teaches, — not  an  arbitrary  authority,  as  we  have 
seen,  but  a  natural  authority,  an  authority  which 
manifests  its  reality  by  compelling  assent.  Let  it 
be  observed  that  such  deriving  of  power  from  the 
assent  of  the  hearer  is  still  authority.  To  insist 
on  seeing  and  knowing  the  truth  for  ourselves  is 
not  to  say  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  authority, 
and  that  we  ourselves  are  the  final  deciders  of  the 
truth.  It  is  not  to  say  that  the  Lord's  authorita- 
tive utterance  was  not  necessary,  that  we  should 
have  found  it  all  out  ourselves  if  we  had  been  left 
alone.  151unted  as  are  our  spiritual  perceptions, 
we  could  not  have  originated  that  revelation  of 
God's  will,  even  though  we  can  and  must  give  it 
practical  validity  by  recognizing  it  when  it  comes. 
The  one  who  originally  sees  and  utters  it  for  us  is 
an  authority  to  whose  word  we  must  defer  by  find- 
ing its  reasonableness. 

It  is  by  authority  that  the  highest  kind  of  truth 
is  propagated.  There  is  always  a  place  for  re- 
ligious authority  in  the  world,  however  intelligent 
and  rational  the  human  race  may  become.  The 
nature  of  the  highest  truth  is  such  that  only  the 
purest,  most  inspired  souls  perceive  it  originally, 
and  these  not  by  dialectic  skill,  but  by  insight  and 
singleness  of  heart.     These  become  prophets  and 


THE    TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHOKITV  I  1 

proclaim  that  truth  for  others,  who  in  turn  see 
it  as  they  become  spiritually  raised  to  its  level. 
It  IS  truth  which  belongs  to  the  higher  man 
created  within  us  by  the  Spirit,  truth  which  be- 
comes truth  to  US  only  as  that  higher  man  comes 
into  existence.  It  is  not  surprising  that  mere  ex- 
perience on  the  world's  level  should  not  find  it 
out.  He  who  by  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  lives  the 
life  of  that  higher  man,  proclaims  it;  he  who 
catches  a  glimpse  of  that  higher  self  by  obedience 
of  heart,  assents  to  it.  The  Saviour  who  is  the 
inspirer,  who  is  that  higher  man  in  complete  one- 
ness with  the  eternal  truth,  is  the  perfect  ex- 
ponent of  truth,  the  Word  of  God.  Because  that 
truth  belongs  to  the  humanity  that  is  coming  to 
be,  rather  than  to  that  which  is,  therefore  the 
foresharers  of  that  spiritual  humanity  are  the  au- 
thorities for  the  world. 

Religions  or  ethical  knowledge  concerns  itself 
with  what  ought  to  be,  or  is  coming  to  be,  in  our 
higher  selves.  It  is  the  science  of  that  which 
does  not  exist,  or  at  least  exists  only  in  germ,  ex- 
cept as  humanity  creates  or  develops  it  by  sonship 
to  God.  The  circle  of  truth  thus  created  consti- 
tutes the  laws  of  a  new  humanity.  Yet  these 
laws  are  not  arbitrary,  nor  out  of  harmony  with 
the  laws  of  our  common  life.  The  new  man  is 
the  realization  of  all  manhood  in  its  true  meaning, 
and  his  laws  are  laws  to  which  we  all  owe  alle- 
giance. Thus,  while  this  truth  has  power  to  com- 
pel assent  from  the  candid  and  obedient  every- 
where, the  original  possession  and  custody  of  it 
remains  with  those  who  have  become  new  men  in 


12   MAGNA  CHARTA  OK  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

the  Spirit.  It  must  therefore  always  be  propa- 
gated by  authority.  Jesus  Christ  and  those  in- 
spired men  who  derive  truth  from  his  Spirit  will 
always  remain  the  center  of  the  world's  light. 

Of  all  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  the 
sayings  of  this  Sermon  on  the  Mount  have  per- 
haps carried  the  most  universal  conviction  with 
them.  All  that  is  best  in  man  rises  up  to  confirm 
their  truth.  Not  only  to  the  crowd  assembled  on 
the  slope  of  Kurn  Hattin,  but  to  the  whole  world 
which  comes  to  read,  Jesus  speaks  as  one  having 
authority.  Some  of  the  master-minds  of  the  world 
have  said  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  a  reve- 
lation to  which  their  whole  being  bowed  in  hom- 
age. The  sincere  heart  must  yield  to  such  teach- 
ing. It  leads  our  better  nature  captive.  It  tells 
us  what  the  man  must  be  to  be  a  perfect  man, 
and  no  candid  mind  can  deny  the  Tightness  of  the 
delineation.  Jesus  speaks  as  one  havmg  authority. 
The  world  cannot  get  rid  of  his  words. 

This  self-commending  authority  is  seen  in  greater 
degree  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  than  in  some 
other  parts  of  Scripture,  not  because  it  is  the 
highest  truth  of  all,  but  because  it  is  truth  in  such 
a  form  as  to  speak  to  the  moral  imagination.  It 
does  not  entangle  the  reasoning  powers  in  specu- 
lation, but  enlists  the  heart  in  the  wish  for  its  de- 
fined excellence.  It  is  practical,  or  ethical.  As 
ethical  it  appeals  to  our  sense  for  values  and  for 
conduct ;  it  describes  types  of  excellence  which 
we  can  imagine  mankind  as  realizing,  with  the 
glowing  thought,  how  good  it  would  be  if  it  were 
so.      Hence   many  a  man  who  has  no  serious  pur- 


THE    TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHORITY'  1 3 

pose  of  adopting  its  precepts  in  their  full  extent 
for  the  guidance  of  his  own  life,  nevertheless  ad- 
mires that  unique  discourse  as  a  glorious  picture, 
a  masterpiece  of  moral  delineation.  It  is  of  such 
character  as  to  commend  itself  to  a  candid  mind 
as  to  an  artistic  sense,  even  where  the  admirer  is 
not  a  doer  as  well  as  a  hearer  of  the  word.  P^or 
this  reason,  among  all  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
there  are  none  that  command  a  greater  unanimity 
of  formal  assent  than  this  wonderful  discourse. 

But  when,  on  the  other  hand,  men  acknowledge 
that  they  are  to  do  more  than  admire,  and  seriously 
contemplate  the  thought  of  forming  their  lives  to 
a  perfect  model,  there  are  sometimes  heard  objec- 
tions to  these  exalted  precepts.  We  have  seen 
that  the  teacher's  authority  derives  its  strength 
from  the  assent  of  the  higher  man  in  us.  But  it 
is  not  strange  that  the  lower  man  should  now  and 
then  utter  his  voice  of  dissent,  for  not  all  the 
morality  of  this  sermon  is  within  his  reach,  and  he 
would  gladly  rid  himself  of  its  condemning  require- 
ments. Sometimes  our  baser  self  thinks  of  its 
normal  liberty  as  consisting  in  the  right  to  abjure 
the  control  of  the  higher  man,  and  thus  to  remain 
base  and  refractory.  But  in  thus  objecting  to  the 
precepts  of  Christ  the  transgressor  is  by  no  means 
disproving  their  real  authority  over  him ;  he  is 
only  acting  like  those  heathen  in  the  second  Psalm 
who  rage,  and  in  their  vain  imaginings  plan  to 
break  asunder  the  Lord's  firmly  knit  bands,  and 
cast  away  his  cords  from  them. 

These  objections  are  founded  on  that  view  of 
the  divine  authority  which  regards  it  as  proceeding 


14      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

from  a  will  entirely  outside  of  us.  This  perfect 
standard  of  excellence  is  called  an  inordinate  re- 
quirement. Moral  perfection  is  not  conceived  of 
as  the  law  of  our  being,  but  as  the  fiat  of  an  arbi- 
trary ruler.  With  such  a  conception  this  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  becomes  little  other  than  an  instru- 
ment of  condemnation,  and  for  God  to  require 
such  perfection  of  weak  and  erring  mortals,  stand- 
ing ready  the  while  to  condemn  them  to  perdition 
for  failure,  seems  to  be  harsh  and  tyrannical.  In 
such  an  objection  it  is  the  lower  man  that  speaks. 
He  is  in  the  position  of  that  slothful  servant  who, 
because  he  had  no  enthusiasm  to  improve  his 
opportunities  for  good,  said,  "  Lord,  I  knew  thee, 
that  thou  art  a  hard  man." 

This  objection  conceives  of  righteousness  not 
as  a  goal,  but  as  a  price.  It  grudges  the  effort  for 
it,  with  the  feeling  that  God  ought  to  let  us  have 
eternal  life  at  a  cheaper  rate.  It  understands  the 
morality  here  taught  as  the  condition  of  salvation, 
and  it  is  dissatisfied  because  the  condition  is  so 
loftv  and  severe.  But  this  is  by  no  means  the 
way  the  great  discourse  is  to  be  taken.  When  the 
Saviour  says,  "Be  ye  perfect,"  he  is  not  stating 
the  lowest  terms  on  which  salvation  may  be  se- 
cured ;  he  is  rather  setting  before  us  what  we 
should  aim  at.  This  perfection  is  our  goal ;  we 
shall  never  be  satisfied  with  anything  short  of  it. 
The  sermon  teaches,  not  the  morality  of  those 
who  are  purchasing  salvation  and  weighing  with 
scant  balance  the  price,  but  the  morality  of  those 
who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness.  Sal- 
vation, instead   of  being  a   reward  placed   in   the 


THE    TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHORITY  1 5 

future  and  to  be  secured,  is  the  starting-point  and 
spring  from  which  the  longing  to  be  righteous 
proceeds.  Being  "saved"  is  a  process  which  in- 
volves trusting  God  for  all  the  future  outcome  of 
righteousness  without  thought  of  merit,  and  be- 
cause of  his  grace;  it  is  a  taking  of  all  the  Re- 
deemer's worthiness  into  the  heart,  so  that  this  is 
our  fervent  wish,  our  undivided  purpose,  which 
nothing  can  satisfy  short  of  perfect  attainment. 
The  man  who  is  saved  has  all  this  in  his  heart  to 
be  and  do,  before  he  has  actually  realized  it  in  his 
conduct.  He  is  not  thinking  of  what  shall  be 
sufficient  to  earn  heaven ;  and  yet  in  the  truest 
sense  heaven  is  just  what  he  is  seeking,  for  heaven 
itself  is  but  the  perfect  ideal  attainment  on  which 
his  heart  is  set. 

One  would  hardly  expect  it  otherwise  than  that 
those  who  take  this  proclamation  of  moral  princi- 
ples as  an  arbitrary  sovereign's  basis  for  the  con- 
demnation of  his  subjects  should  be  disturbed  at 
its  severe  requirements.  But  there  are  those  who 
also  regard  this  law  as  primarily  a  condemning 
agency,  and  yet  their  extreme  ideas  concerning 
faith  lead  them  with  singular  infatuation  to  exult 
over  that  law  as  if  it  were  a  fallen  foe.  They  say 
that  all  it  was  intended  for  was  to  show  us  the 
hopelessness  of  our  attaining  perfection,  or  keeping 
the  law,  and  therefore  to  warn  us  to  abandon  all 
thought  of  it  and  trust  only  to  the  merits  of  Christ. 
Good  people  sometimes  even  thank  God  because  we 
are  "free  from  the  law,"  in  the  sense  that  it  entails 
no  obligation  on  us,  since  Christ  has  obeyed  it  in 
our  stead.     But  such  an  idea  is  surely  a  misunder- 


1 6   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

standing.  Could  the  loyal  heart  ever  be  thankful 
to  have  no  obligation  laid  upon  it  to  be  conformed 
to  the  divine  image?  Could  the  man  who  loves 
righteousness  exult  in  having  the  majesty  of  right- 
eousness done  away?  Let  us  not  misunderstand 
Jesus  so.  He  is  giving  us  a  glimpse  of  the  per- 
fect morality  not  for  us  to  abandon  all  thought  of 
it,  but  for  us  to  accept  it  as  our  end  and  purpose. 
He  would  have  us  trust  him  for  salvation,  it  is 
true;  this  is  the  only  way  of  eternal  life.  But  we 
are  to  trust  him  and,  because  he  is  in  our  hearts  by 
faith,  seek  to  be  perfect,  not  trust  him  and  discard 
the  thought.  Christ  taught  in  order  to  be  obeyed, 
not  in  order  to  alienate  men  from  all  purpose  of 
obedience  by  means  of  impracticable  requirements. 
He  ministers,  not  despair  of  attainment,  but 
strength  for  effort.  The  triumph  of  faith,  in  this 
sordid  world  which  so  depresses  our  ideals,  is  to 
keep  believing  that  the  measure  of  the  perfect 
man  is  in  our  reach,  and  ever  striving  to  realize 
that  which  we  grasp  by  faith. 

But  not  only  the  right  of  these  teachings  to 
place  themselves  as  our  condemning  standard,  but 
their  power  to  rule  our  ordinary  life  is  questioned 
on  the  ground  that,  though  beautiful  as  an  ideal 
picture,  they  are  nevertheless  impracticable  and 
visionary.  This  criticism,  like  the  other,  proceeds 
from  the  basis  of  our  ordinary  self,  and  is  domi- 
nated by  the  feeling  of  the  divine  requirements  as 
merely  external.  It  thinks  of  the  ordinary  earthly 
humanity  as  if  it  were  to  be  placed  by  law  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  as  in  an  external  regime ;  and 
it  foresees  a  failure  in  the  practical  working  of  its 


THE    TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHORITY  1/ 

mild  precepts  among  those  people  whose  disposi- 
tion is  to  evade  them.  Suppose,  for  instance,  the 
civil  oath  were  abolished  in  literal  obedience  to 
the  precept,  "Swear  not  at  all,"  or  all  opportu- 
nity for  divorce  were  denied,  despite  the  hardness 
of  men's  hearts  which  still  obtains  as  in  Moses' 
time,  would  such  a  forcible  setting  up  of  ideal 
practices  be  beneficial  all  around  ?  In  short,  is 
the  morality  of  the  great  discourse  practicable? 
The  very  church  of  God  which  professes  to  take 
this  sermon  as  its  fundamental  law  is  unfaithful  to 
it.  And  when  an  earnest  and  original  man  like 
Tolstoy  undertakes  to  make  it  the  actual  model 
for  his  life,  many  are  ready  to  call  him  a  mis- 
guided fanatic.  This  is  held  to  show  that  its 
teaching,  while  ideally  beautiful,  is  impracticable. 

Now  it  must  be  acknowledged  that,  conceived  of 
as  imposed  by  an  outside  power  upon  ordinary  hu- 
man society,  much  of  this  morality  is  impracticable. 
Like  all  consummate  moral  law,  the  great  discourse 
outlines  conduct  for  the  spiritually  quickened  man 
to  propose  to  himself,  not  conduct  for  a  central 
power  to  enforce  upon  the  unwilling.  And,  in  the 
present  stage  of  human  advancement,  to  take 
these  precepts  against  the  oath,  against  resistance, 
against  divorce,  as  absolute  prohibitions  rather 
than  as  pictures  of  that  consummate  state  of  society 
where  these  imperfect  customs  shall  have  dropped 
away  of  themselves,  is  to  leave  society  unguarded, 
or  to  expose  the  exceptionally  conscientious  indi- 
vidual to  imposition  and  wrong.  But  it  is  as  con- 
summate, or  ideal  truth,  that  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount   is   to   be  taken.     Ideal   truth,  even   truth 

B 


1 8   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

that  is  to  the  uniegenerate  man  impracticable,  is 
still  compelling  truth  ;  it  is  none  the  less  strong  be- 
cause it  is  unrealized  in  general  society.  If  per- 
fection, indeed,  were  an  easily  attained  goal,  it 
would  lose  all  its  power  as  an  incentive.  The  pur- 
suit of  it  would  have  no  zest  ;  the  enjoyment 
of  it  would  become  wearisome.  There  stands 
the  high  truth.  "  Forever,  O  Lord,  thy  word  is 
settled  in  heaven."  We  sorrowfully  acknowledge 
how  often  we  are  unfaithful  to  it  ;  but  we  wnll  by 
no  means  throw  it  aside  as  our  ideal.  We  still  say 
there  can  be  no  perfect  humanity  without  it. 
Once  having  been  granted  a  view  of  the  morality 
of  God's  kingdom,  the  true  sons  of  God  will  never 
cease  to  believe  and  love  and  pursue  this  as  the 
very  end  of  their  being. 

But  it  may  well  be  asked  how  an  ideal  scheme 
of  duty,  confessedly  impracticable  for  ordinary  so- 
ciety, is  expected  to  relate  itself  to  the  human 
conscience.  For  the  unregenerate  society,  which 
cannot  at  present  realize  the  final  morality,  reacts 
upon  those  who  are  committed  to  an  ideal  obedi- 
ence, interposing  conditions  hostile  to  the  fi'ee  ex- 
ercise of  their  cherished  virtues.  It  seems  clear 
that  some  virtues  can  flourish  in  their  perfection 
only  in  their  own  atmosphere;  as  long  therefore 
as  that  congenial  condition  for  their  development 
does  not  exist,  with  how  much  of  self-reproach 
shall  the  disciple  regard  his  consequent  lack  of 
perfection .''  How  shall  the  spiritual  man  make 
progress  toward  planting  his  ideal  on  the  earth  ? 
And  how  shall  the  perfect,  impracticable  morality 
exert   its   influence  on   the    collective    conscience 


THE   TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHORITY  1 9 

SO  as   to   bring  to  pass  its   progressive  actualiza- 
tion ? 

Moral  law  in  its  consummate  form,  as  already 
seen,  is  for  the  spiritually  quickened  man  to  pro- 
pose to  himself  as  duty.  When  the  conscience  of 
the  few  is  brought  to  recognize  its  claim,  these  by 
their  conversation  in  the  world  become  the  salt  of 
the  earth,  the  salutary  influence  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  society.  And  it  is  everywhere  taught  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  that  these  must  be  ex- 
pected to  sacrifice  themselves  in  a  certain  way  to 
the  welfare  of  humanity.  If  they  are  persecuted 
for  righteousness'  sake,  it  is  a  sign  that  they  are 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  But  in  order  to  bring 
the  saving  influence  of  their  conduct  to  bear  upon 
society  it  is  not  necessary  that  they  should  form 
separate  communities,  with  special  civil  laws,  realiz- 
ing by  dead  lift  the  ideal  system  of  duty.  Such 
separation  from  the  ordinary  life  entails  a  loss  of 
leavening  power.  Nor  is  it  necessary  that  disci- 
ples should  live  in  a  state  of  rebellion  against 
those  civil  institutions  which  fail  to  enforce  ideal 
conduct,  nor  in  a  state  of  insurgent  compact  to 
bring  those  institutions  to  their  ideal  standard  by 
the  omnipotent  ballot.  It  is  a  question  whether 
civil  enactment  can  ever  aim  at  the  same  mark  as 
moral  law,  the  primal  purpose  of  the  one  being 
to  afford  guidance  to  the  good,  of  the  other  to 
restrain  the  bad.  Living  then  with  immediate 
reference  to  the  will  of  Christ,  and  yet  in  ordinary 
civil  relations  and  with  sinful  people,  the  disciple 
may  recognize  the  necessity  of  conforming  out- 
wardly to  a  lower  standard, — in  taking  the  oath, 


20   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

for  example,  or  in  defending  himself, — not  as  a 
lapse  from  imperative  duty,  but  as  the  deprivation 
of  an  ideal  privilege.  He  may  enter  into  his  civil 
relations  without  condemnation,  and  yet  with  re- 
gret at  his  earthly  limitations.  For  the  Saviour's 
doctrine  abolishing  the  oath  and  the  privilege  of 
self-defense  is  not  an  absolute  prohibition,  but  a 
prohibition  so  far  as  practicable,  and  above  all  a 
picture  in  imperative  form  of  that  state  of  society 
where  these  fall  away  of  themselves.  And  he 
who  seeks  the  perfect  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the 
spirit  of  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  is 
not  driven  by  fear  of  guilt  but  by  longing  for  un- 
attained  blessings.  In  one  way  or  another  the 
ideal  truth,  lifted  up  as  an  entrancing  vision,  will 
produce  unrest  in  the  humanity  whose  eyes  are 
opened  to  it,  until  its  altitude  is  finally  reached, 
and  its  heavenly  treasure  possessed. 

We  see  then  the  authority  with  which  the  divine 
teacher  spake.  That  authority  depends  on  no  his- 
torical research  of  ours  ;  the  truth  of  his  utter- 
ances is  not  vitally  involved  in  the  question 
whether  Christ  wrought  miracles  or  not,  not  in 
the  question  what  he  is  in  relation  to  prophecy  or 
to  the  Trinity.  Once  uttered,  that  truth  com- 
mends itself  to  the  inner  perception  of  every 
candid  man.  We  know  that  the  things  which  he 
commands  are  ideally  and  eternally  right.  And  if 
our  lower  self,  clamoring  for  the  right  to  remain 
unsubdued  and  earthly,  calls  the  eternal  claims  in- 
ordinate, or  feels  an  ideal  world  to  be  impractica- 
ble, such  stopping  of  the  spiritual  ear  by  no 
means  silences  the  voice  of  God.     It  is  none  the 


THE    TEACHER    AND    HIS    AUTHORITY  21 

less  ours,  on  pain  of  alienation  from  God,  to  make 
this  eternal  standard  of  duty  our  striving.  In  the 
spirit  that  is  awakened  to  God's  voice  there  can  be 
no  rest  short  of  this  altitude  of  perfection.  The 
moral  world  will  always  be  in  unsatisfied  move- 
ment until  it  reaches  that  goal.  Bring  your  heart 
therefore  into  harmony  with  it.  Make  it  your 
cherished  ideal.  This  is  salvation — when  the  law 
of  God  is  our  dearest  purpose,  instead  of  our  con- 
demning censor.  With  this  high  striving  in  our 
heart  we  have  the  evidence  that  we  are  united  to 
Him  who  perfectly  fulfilled  this  law.  And  with 
this  in  our  heart  we  are  allied  to  that  which  is  of 
eternal  significance  and  power.  "Heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass 
away." 


II 


THE    MORALITY    WHICH    IS    THE 
WORLD'S  SAVOR  AND  LIGHT 


Matt.  .5  .•  2-16 


II 


And  he  opened  his  mouth  and  taught  them,  saying, 

Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit  :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  :  for  they  shall  be  comforted. 

Blessed  are  the  meek  :  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth. 

Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  :  for 
they  shall  be  filled. 

Blessed  are  the  merciful  :  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy. 

Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  :  for  they  shall  see  God. 

Blessed  are  the  peacemakers  :  for  they  shall  be  called  sons  of 
God. 

Blessed  are  they  that  have  been  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake  :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  ye  when 
men  shall  reproach  you,  and  persecute  you,  and  say  all  manner 
of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice,  and  be  exceed- 
ing glad  :  for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven  :  for  so  persecuted 
they  the  prophets  which  were  before  you. 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  ^arth  :  but  if  the  salt  have  lost  its  savour, 
wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ?  It  is  henceforth  good  for  nothing, 
but  to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men.  Ye  are  the 
light  of  the  world.  A  city  set  on  a  hill  cannot  be  hid.  Neither 
do  men  light  a  lamp  and  put  it  under  the  bushel,  but  on  the  stand  ; 
and  it  shineth  unto  all  that  are  in  the  house.  Even  so  let  your 
light  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and 
glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

The  idea  that  was  in  the  air  was,  "  the  kingdom 
of  heaven."  People  were  looking  for  this  kingdom, 
and  expecting  great  blessings  to  come  to  the 
chosen  nation  on  account  of  it.  John  had  for 
months  been  preparing  for  it  by  his  preaching  in 
the  wilderness.  His  message  had 
been,  "Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  Matt.  3  :  2 
heaven    is  at   hand."     After   Jesus 

25 


26      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

had  been  baptized  he  himself  took 
Matt.  4  :  17    up  the   Same   message,  "The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand."     There 
was  the  general  feeling  that  some  great  and  desir- 
able development  in  the  world's  history  was  about 
to  take  place.      Enthusiasm  was  smouldering  and 
ready  to  burst  into   flame  at  any  moment.      Patri- 
otic pride,  sense  of  the  disgrace  of  the  chosen  na- 
tion being  subject  to  heathen   Rome,  religious  en- 
thusiasm,  as  well   as   a    deeper    spiritual    hunger 
hardly  understood,  all  wrought  to  produce  a  pres- 
sure of  expectation  that  could  hardly  be  held  back. 
Jesus  described  this  state  of  feeling 
Matt.  II  :  12    when  he   said,  "From   the  days  of 
John    the    Baptist    until    now,    the 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  men  of 
violence  take  it  by  force."     It  was  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  on  which  the  eager  common  people  of  Gal- 
ilee were  fixing  their  hopes.     Any  mention  of  that 
kingdom  was  sufficient  to  set  expectation  all  aglow. 
Only  give  them  an  idea  what  it  was  to  enter  that 
kingdom  and  be  in  a  position  to  share  its  benefits, 
and  they  were  ready  to  press  into  it. 

This  Sermon  on  the  Mount  has  been  called  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And 
for  those  who  understand  what  is  meant  by  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  this  is  a  most  appropriate  de- 
scription of  it.  But  Jesus  could  not  so  designate 
it  at  this  stage  of  affairs  by  name.  To  use  the 
name  which  was  thus  on  everybody's  lips  would 
be  to  awaken  that  whole  accumulation  of  enthusi- 
asm and  set  it  ablaze.  But  to  make  such  an  en- 
thusiasm too  intense  at  this  stage  of  things  would 


THE    world's    savor    AND    LIGHT  2/ 

be  unfortunate,  for  it  was  mainly  an  unspiritual 
enthusiasm.  People  did  not  understand  what  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  was.  It  was  a  greater  idea 
than  they  had  grasped.  It  meant  briefly  that 
state  of  things  in  the  individual  heart  in  which  the 
person  is  ruled  by  God  himself.  This  meant  his 
trusting  God,  his  seeing  God  with  the  spiritual 
eye,  his  obeying  God  of  his  own  glad  choice.  But 
for  the  bulk  of  the  people  the  kingdom  meant 
some  visible  organization,  some  commonwealth, 
some  pomp  of  external  power  and  glory.  Even  if 
the  setting  up  of  the  kingdom  was  not  under- 
stood to  mean  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  power, 
and  the  universal  dominion  of  the  Jewish  nation, 
it  could  hardly  help  being  understood  as  some 
outward  organization,  for  spiritual  purposes  at 
least.  Now  to  name  this  sermon  at  the  outset 
the  law  of  the  kingdom,  would  be  to  call  together 
a  band  of  unspiritual  adherents  at  once.  They 
would  inevitably  and  immediately  fasten  upon 
some  earthly  idea  of  that  kingdom  and  proceed  to 
carry  it  out. 

In  spiritual  matters  it  is  often  necessary  to  de- 
scribe a  thing  before  we  can  venture  to  use  its 
commonly  received  name.  This  is  especially  true 
of  anything  which  calls  out  people's  enthusiasm. 
The  things  of  God's  kingdom  are  greater  than  any 
of  us  have  fully  understood.  They  are  heavenly 
things  which,  though  they  stand  on  the  earth, 
tower  up  to  an  infinity  of  meaning  toward  heaven, 
in  proportion  as  the  spirit  can  comprehend  them. 
But  these  things  receive  their  common  names,  and 
those  names  inevitably  acquire  a  conventional  sig- 


28      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

nificance.  People  are  fired  by  the  name,  when 
often  it  is  desirable  that  they  should  not  blaze  up, 
as  it  were,  too  soon,  but  should  hold  still  and  learn 
more  deeply  the  precious  meaning  involved  in  the 
name.  When  a  man  is  acting  on  an  idea  he  is  no 
longer  listening  for  that  idea.  It  is  often  neces- 
sary that  our  over-eager  followers  be  held  still  to 
complete  the  act  of  getting  instructions,  before 
they  run  on  the  errand  of  doing  their  master's 
bidding. 

In  the  formation  of  opinions  especially,  mere  in- 
dolence of  thought  leads  people  often  to  conjure 
with  names  as  if  they  were  the  ultimate  realities 
concerned.  There  is  a  power  in  conventional 
terms  to  arrest  the  process  of  thought,  especially 
when  those  terms  arouse  partisan  feeling.  People 
catch  the  cry  and  run  with  it  before  they  have 
caught  it  aright.  This  was  especially  likely  to 
happen  with  those  to  whom  the  Saviour  was 
speaking  at  this  time.  Just  as  we  have  to  talk 
about  the  various  isms  under  which  people  range 
themselves,  or  against  which  they  have  strong 
prejudices,  without  naming  them,  as  we  have  to 
take  pains  sometimes  that  our  hearers  shall  not 
know  what  is  the  conventional  thing  we  are  talk- 
ing about  until  they  have  had  time  to  catch  our 
meaning,  so  Jesus  had  to  be  careful  that  this  idea 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  which  was  all  ready, 
should  not  be  advanced  prematurely.  The  eager 
people  must  learn  its  nature  without  knowing  what 
conventional  thing  it  was  whose  nature  they  were 
learning.  By  and  by  its  name  could  be  revealed, 
but  not  until  they  had  gotten  the  thing. 


THE    world's    savor    AND    LIGHT  29 

So  Jesus  in  this  Sermon  on  the  Mount  sets  forth 
the  fundamental  law  of  the  new  kingdom ;  but  it 
is  not  formally  a  law,  nor  is  the  mention  of  the 
kingdom  made  prominent.  He  simply  goes  on  to 
describe  the  ideally  good  man.  He  points  out 
who  are  blessed.  He  describes,  if  we  may  so  say 
it,  the  best  thing  in  character,  what  kind  of  peo- 
ple they  are  who  are  nearest  to  the  center  of  the 
world's  spiritual  life,  who  are  fitted  to  impart  good- 
ness to  the  world  rather  than  receive  goodness 
from  the  world,  who  are  the  very  salt  of  the  earth, 
giving  it  a  savor,  the  light  of  the  world  shining  in 
its  darkness  and  revealing  the  God  who  is  their 
own  indwelling  light. 

It  is  touching  men's  spiritual  nature  by  awaken- 
ing them  to  the  desire  for  an  ideal  goodness. 
Righteousness  is  here  presented  of  a  high  enough 
intensity  to  be  inspiring.  Men  are  saved  by  ap- 
preciating. It  is  thus  that  Christ  saves  men  : 
"  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  means  simply, 
appreciate  Christ.  Righteousness  at  the  ordinary 
level  would  be  hardly  of  high  enough  potency  to 
be  inspiring  ;  but  when  the  righteousness  of  those 
who  are  blessed  in  being  like  Christ  in  the  world 
is  so  presented  as  to  awaken  men's  sense  of  its 
worth  and  enlist  in  its  cause  all  the  active  powers, 
it  becomes  a  mighty  saving  influence  in  the  heart 
of  the  appreciative. 

Jesus  first  describes  a  certain  morality,  and  then 
specifies  what  kind  of  people  this  will  make  of 
those  who  practise  it.  They  shall  be  the  salt  of 
the  earth  and  the  light  of  the  world,  the  positive 
leavening  power  in  society.     The  relation  of  his 


30      MAGNA    CIIAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

kingdom  to  the  world  is  here  indicated.  It  is  not 
the  whole  of  society,  but  its  leaven.  The  morality 
he  describes  is  a  certain  concentrated  form  of 
goodness,  the  only  perfect  and  consummate  kind  ; 
and  yet  always  the  leaven  rather  than  the  leavened 
lump.  It  is  a  morality  which  could  not  be  en- 
forced by  power,  even  by  an  infinitely  autocratic 
sovereign.  He  pictures  the  saving  or  savoring 
element  in  society,  rather  than  society  itself,  which 
element  is  always  small  in  bulk,  perhaps  we  may 
say  too  concentrated  to  be  the  whole  of  the  world  ; 
even  when  the  whole  lump  is  leavened  it  will  be 
something  different  from  this,  something  with 
passive,  inert  elements  which  constitute  the  main 
body  of  society,  on  which  the  positive  elements 
act.  And  these  act  not  by  any  forcing  of  their 
influence,  or  seeking  to  wield  the  power  of  organiza- 
tion for  that  special  end,  but  simply  by  dcinj^  what 
they  are,  by  letting  their  light  shine.  The  .shining 
light  is  the  impelling  power. 

We  might  easily  spend  a  long  time  on  each  one 
of  these  Beatitudes  and  yet  fail  to  point  out  all 
their  richness  of  meaning.  I  must  content  my- 
self, however,  with  merely  summarizing  them. 
Considered  as  traits  of  character  to  aim  at,  these 
descriptions  of  goodness  are  a  wonderful  inspira- 
tion. But  they  do  not  describe  the  traits  that  the 
world  would  agree  to  adopt  as  conditions  of  suc- 
cess. They  are  not  such  moral  qualities  as  one 
would  selfishly  covet.  And  yet  he  who  sincerely 
wishes  to  be  ruled  by  the  will  of  God  may  recog- 
nize in  them  just  the  qualities  calculated  to  give 
God's  will  an  ascendency  in  his  heart. 


THE    world's    savor    AND    LIGHT  3  I 

First  of  all,  our  Lord  says  the  poor 
in  spirit  are  blessed.  Have  we  not  Matt.  5  :  3 
here  at  the  very  start  a  teaching  so 
unexpected  and  unique  as  to  bear  the  stamp  of 
divinity  ?  We  should  thoughtlessly  consider  him 
fortunate  who  has  the  sense  of  a  wealth  of  spiritual 
gifts  and  power.  He  who  feels  as  if  he  abounded 
in  good  things,  who  has  much  to  congratulate 
himself  upon  in  the  way  of  spiritual  possessions 
— he  is  the  one  whose  good  fortune  the  most 
godly  of  us  would  like  to  share.  The  thing  we 
aim  at  is  self-satisfaction  in  regard  to  the  things 
of  God  ;  and  we  often  consider  it  a  great  mark  of 
our  backwardness  because  we  are  so  discontented 
with  our  poor  attainment.  We  feel  poor  and  lean  ; 
there  surely  must  be  something  wrong.  And  yet 
the  Saviour  fixes  upon  this  very  feeling  of  spiritual 
poverty  as  the  sign  of  one's  belonging  to  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  And  his  divine  insight  is  right. 
For  if  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  likeness  to  God, 
then  it  is  something  infinite,  something  that  we 
shall  never  exhaust  by  our  finite  attainments. 
He  who  feels  rich,  so  that  he  has  no  disposition 
to  seek  anything  farther,  is  self-convicted  of  having 
lost  all  sense  of  the  infinite.  He  is  full  ;  he  has 
stopped  his  progress  toward  the  goodness  of  God. 
But  a  man  feels  poor  in  spirit  because  he  has  the 
sense  of  how  much  there  is  to  rise  through  before 
he  shall  be  perfect.  He  feels  poor  just  in  propor- 
tion as  he  has  that  communication  with  God  by 
which  his  soul  may  grow  rich. 

"  '  Blessed  are  tJic  poor  in  spirit!   .   .   There  is 
nothing  in  all  ethical   teaching  more  radical    than 


32      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

this  same  sweet  beatitude.  It  requires  thorough 
work  of  any  man  who  would  receive  it.  .  .  One 
of  the  first  things  we  shall  have  to  do  will  be  to 
heap  up  all  our  pride  and  pretense,  and  then  to 
kindle  in  our  souls  a  hot  fire  of  wrath,  and  to  burn 
up  those  shams  and  delusions  which  we  love. 
Throw  it  all  in, — our  pride  of  ancestry,  of  position, 
of  attainment,  of  money,  of  talent,  of  social  posi- 
tion,— every  branch  and  fruit  of  our  pretense  ;  burn 
it  all  up  :  and  then  over  the  ashes  of  our  pride  we 
must  pray  for  a  new  heart,  simple  enough  and  sin- 
cere like  Christ's,  to  own  a  brother  in  the  humblest 
man  we  meet,  and  to  receive  a  word  of  the  Lord 
in  the  least  duty  which  any  moment  may  bring  to 
us  from  the  will  of  the  Father.  Become  poor  in 
spirit — my  soul  but  another  human  emptiness  to 
be  filled,  maybe,  from  some  divine  fullness  !  My 
life  but  as  the  lowly  banks  through  which  some 
renewing  grace  may  flow  like  a  stream  !  "  ' 

Akin  to  this  is  the  principle  that 
Ver.  4  they  who  mourn  are  blessed,  because 
they  shall  be  comforted.  The  mourn- 
ing, rather  than  the  rejoicing,  is  the  unsatisfied  state 
which  tends  to  something  better.  It  is  not  a 
mourning  over  an  evil  done,  but  for  a  good  un- 
attained.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  these  Be- 
atitudes the  Saviour  locates  the  blessedness  just 
on  the  hither  side  of  satisfaction ;  the  blessed  state 
has  the  prospect  of  better  before  it.  Blessedness 
is  dynamic  rather  than  static  ;  it  is  force  and  move- 
ment toward  a  higher  state.     There  is  a  tenderly 

^  Newman  Smyth,  "Personal  Creeds,"  p.  39. 


THE    WORLDS    SAVOR    AND    LIGHT  33 

chastening  and  elevating  power  in 

sadness  which  the  Saviour  fully  rec-    EccI.  7  :  2 

ognizes.     "  It  is  better  to  go  to  the 

house  of   mourning,  than  to  go  to  the  house  of 

feasting,"  said  the  Preacher  long  before. 

But  again,  the   Saviour  says  the 
meek  are  blessed  because  they  shall    ygj,  5 
inherit    the   earth  ;    and    here  also 
we  find  teaching  quite  unlike  the  practical  belief 
of  this  world.      It  is  a  truth,  how- 
ever, which  was  discovered  by  the    Ps.  37  :  11 
psalmist.       But    the   strong,    grasp- 
ing,   pushing     world    does    not    believe    it  ;    and 
when  we  see  the   apparent   conditions  of  success 
in   this   world  we  are    often    tempted    to    doubt 
the   truth  ourselves.      The  meek  are  those   who 
do   not  take  pains   to  assert    themselves,   nor  to 
push  their  way.     They  are  inclined  to  yield  ;  they 
will  give  up   personal  preference  rather  than   be 
offensively  forward.     Now  such  are  just  the  ones 
whom  we  expect  to  see  pushed  to  the  wall.     That 
they  should  succeed  and  gain  a  supremacy  is  just 
in  antagonism   to  the  law  which   the  evolutionary 
theory  has  formulated  in  regard   to  lower  things, 
namely,  that  the  species  of  animals,  and  human  in- 
stitutions even,  have  progressed  because  only  the 
strongest,  or  the  fittest,  have  survived  ;  while  the 
weaker    races    have    been    crowded    out    in    the 
struggle  for  existence.     We  sometimes  deny  the 
Saviour's  truth  when  we  say,   sagaciously  as   we 
think  :  "  I  tell  you,  if  a  man  is  to  get  along  in  this 
world  he  must  put  himself  forward  a  little.      If  he 
doesn't   blow  his  own  trumpet,  nobody  else  will 

c 


34   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

blow  it  for  him.  He  will  get  crowded  and  starved 
out  unless  he  is  on  hand  for  his  share."  So  it 
seems  when  we  look  at  it  from  the  level  of  mere 
worldly  sagacity.  But  from  the  platform  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  how  different.  The  meek,  sa3's 
the  Saviour,  shall  inherit  the  earth.  He  does  not 
even  postpone  their  reward  to  the  heavenly  world  ; 
as  if,  after  enough  of  jostling  and  suffering  here, 
they  shall  be  recompensed  in  a  different  and 
higher  realm.  He  promises  that  they  shall  inherit 
this  scene  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  I  suppose 
he  means,  what  many  a  meek  soul  has  found  true, 
that  the  quiet  and  unselfish  have  a  more  real 
ownership  in  the  earth — get  more  of  the  real  good 
of  it,  find  it  ministering  far  more  to  their  highest 
enjoyment — than  the  greatest  of  those  who,  with 
their  grasping  and  pushing,  can  say  they  own  vast 
tracts  of  it,  and  yet  are  subject  to  the  pangs  of 
insatiable  avarice,  slighted  vanity,  and  disappointed 
ambition.  To  inherit  or  own  the  earth,  in  its  real 
sense,  is  to  make  it  minister  to  our  happiness  and 
highest  welfare.  Rut  many  who  are  called  rich  in 
the  possession  of  it  make  it  their  master  to  over- 
bear all  their  spiritual  excellence  and  destroy  their 
souls.  Of  this  ownership,  which  consists  in  real 
enjoyment  and  mastership,  the  meek  may  easily 
be  seen  to  have  the  lion's  share,  even  though  they 
have  to  work  hard  and  subject  themselves  to  a 
constant  round  of  small  economies  to  get  on  in  life. 
But  Jesus  goes  on  to  show  how 
Ver.  6  personal  righteousness  stands  re- 
lated to  our  blessedness.  He  does 
not  say,   Blessed    are    the   righteous ;  for  if    this 


THE    world's    savor    AND    LIGHT  35 

were  the  extent  of  the  promise  many  a  man  who 
is  poor  in  spirit  might  feel  himself  excluded  from 
it.  But  he  says,  Blessed  are  those  who  want 
righteousness,  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  it, 
for  they  shall  be  filled.  Here  again  he  describes 
righteousness  as  something  of  infinite  reach,  some- 
thing that  no  one  has  exhaustively  attained.  Those 
who  count  themselves  fully  righteous  are  those 
who  have  lost  sight  of  the  infinite 
reach  of  true  goodness.  "  None  is  Mark  lo  :  i8 
good  save  one,  even  God,"  said  our 
Lord.  These  self-approving  people  have  got  to  a 
certain  point  in  goodness,  and  stop  there  satisfied, 
like  the  Pharisees,  Such  righteousness  is  only 
conventional  ;  it  is  simply  what  men  agree  to  call 
righteousness.  We  talk  about  character  as  the 
important  thing  ;  but  while  character  is  an  excel- 
lent thing  to  value  and  long  for,  it  is  apt  to  be  an 
unfortunate  subject  for  self-consciousness  or  pride. 
He  who  professes  absolute  righteousness  is  a 
Pharisee.  So  Jesus  pronounces  no  blessing  on 
the  full-grown  righteous,  for  only  the  deceived 
would  call  themselves  of  that  class.  He  congrat- 
ulates those  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  right- 
eousness, who  will  not  rest  in  any  attainment  short 
of  conformity  to  the  infinite  goodness.  Such  shall 
evermore  rejoice  in  fruition  ;  the  desire  for  right- 
eousness is  a  desire  that  heaven  itself  exists  in 
order  to  fill. 

Then  the  merciful  are  pronounced 
blessed,  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy,    ygj..  7 
It   is   within    a    man's    own    choice 
whether  he    shall  be  forbearingly  and    mercifully 


36   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

dealt  with  by  his  fellow-nicn  or  not.      If  he  is  him- 
self exacting  and   harsh,  he  but  invites  exacting 

treatment  from  others.     "They  that 
Matt.  26  :  52    take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the 

sword."  But  if  the  person  treats 
his  fellow-men  with  consideration  and  forbearance, 
he  is  most  likely  to  meet  with  mercy  when  he  is 
himself  in  trouble. 

It  is  only  to  the  merciful  that  the  first  access  to 
the  mercy  of  God  is  possible.  There  is  accept- 
ance only  for  the  forgiving  spirit.  We  rejoice  in 
the  doctrine  of  grace,  that  is,  the  principle  that 
salvation  comes  not  by  our  works  or  our  merit,  but 
by  the  favor  of  a  pardoning  God.  Now  the  at- 
tainment of  that  favor  is  possible  only  for  the  one 

who  is  merciful  himself.     Jesus  em- 
Matt.  6  :  12    phasizes  this  over  and  over  again. 

He  encourages  us  in  the  Model 
Prayer  to  ask  for  forgiveness  only  to  this  extent — 
as  we  forgive  our  debtors.  This  particular  peti- 
tion is  the  only  one  on  which  he  makes  a  comment 

at  the  end  of  the  prayer.      He  says, 
Matt.  6  :  15    "  If  ys  forgive   not  men  their  tres- 
passes, neither  will  your  Father  for- 
give   your    trespasses."     Then    in   another  place, 
when  proinising  the  fullest  blessings  in  answer  to 

prayer,  he  adds,  "  And  whensoever 
Mark  II  :  25    ye  Stand  praying,  forgive,  if  ye  have 

aught  against  any  one ;  that  your 
Father  also  which  is  in  heaven  may  forgive  you 
your  trespasses."  Not  simply  boundless  aspira- 
tion after  perfection,  but  boundless  toleration  and 
mercy  toward  others'  imperfection,  belongs  to  the 


THE    world's    savor    AND    LIGHT  37 

truly  blessed.  The  two  do  not  always  exist  to- 
gether. Often  the  most  zealous  and  aspiring  are 
the  most  intolerant.  The  Pharisees,  who  held  the 
common  people  accursed,  were  the  idealists  among 
the  Jews.  Jesus  alone  was  perfectly  an  inhabitant 
of  heaven  and  an  inhabitant  of  earth, — consumed 
with  zeal  for  God's  house,  and  yet  a  friend  of 
publicans  and  sinners, — but  he  teaches  his  fol- 
lowers to  seek  their  blessedness  along  this  same 
line  of  God-manhood.  Hunger  for  righteousness  ; 
make  the  highest  heaven  your  home;  but  be 
merciful  and  forgiving  to  those  who  do  not  desire 
righteousness,  and  who  may  even  wrong  you. 

"  This  forgiving  spirit  is  itself  many  \irtues  in 
one.  The  man  who  can  truly  and  effectually  for- 
give, the  man  who  can  be  a  reconciling  power  in  a 
community,  is  no  weak  man,  or  man  of  a  single 
virtue,  or  mere  instance  of  good  nature.  He 
must  also  be  a  just  man — a  man  who  sees  what  is 
right  as  clear  as  the  day,  a  man  who  wants  always 
to  get  the  right  thing  done;  a  man  who  will  not 
cover  up  evil,  or  hide  iniquity,  or  say  peace  when 
there  is  no  peace.  It  requires  a  high  and  even 
rare  combination  of  virtues  to  be  peacemaker — not 
a  peaceable  soul,  but  a  maker  of  peace ;  and  to  ex- 
ercise the  spirit  of  forgiveness  in  any  genuine  and 
fruitful  way  is  no  child's  play  at  life."  ^ 

Then  the  most  glorious  of  all  the 
promises   is   given   to   the    pure    in    Yej._  g 
heart — they    shall    see    God.      We 
come  toward  heaven  m  this  world  only  as  we  see 

1  Newman  Smyth,  "  Personal  Creeds, "  p.  115. 


38   MAGNA  CHAKTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

Gotl,  that  is,  only  as  his  will  reveals  itself  to  us  as 
our  end.  It  is  not  by  watching  how  others  do,  or 
by  conforming  to  rules,  that  we  learn  the  true  way 
of  life.  It  is  not  simply  by  experience.  It  is  by 
intuition  of  the  righteousness  that  reaches  to  an 
infinite  height — by  looking  at  God  in  fact — that 
any  true  goodness  is  comprehended.  But  such 
comprehension  comes  by  loving,  by  having  the 
whole  heart  enlisted  in  the  thing.  The  heart  be- 
comes an  eye  to  see,  and  it  will  not  see  unless  it 
be  single.  It  must  be  pure  in  its  love,  that  is,  un- 
mixed with  anything  baser.  A  love  that  is  mixed 
with  selfish  considerations,  trying  to  hold  on  to  the 
good-will  of  the  world  while  it   seeks  the  favor  of 

God,  never  can  see  God.  The  Jews 
Matt.  21  :  25-27    who    mingled    their    convictions    of 

truth  with  fear  of  the  people  could 
not  even  tell  whether  John's  baptism  was  earthly 

or    heavenly    in     its     origin.      The 
isa.  29  :  13,  14    prophet  said  of  the  old  Testament 

Jews,  that  because  their  fear  of  the 
Lord  was  a  commandment  of  men  that  had  been 
learned  by  rote,  even  though  the  Lord  proceeded 
to  do  a  marvelous  work  and  a  wonder,  the  wisdom 
of  their  wise  men  should  perish,  and  the  under- 
standing of  their  prudent  men  should  be  hid. 
With  a  mere  memorized  religion  they  could  not 
see  anything  spiritual.  Only  by  the  heart,  and  by 
a  pure  heart,  do  men  see  the  infinite  goodness. 

Then  the  peacemakers  are  blessed 
Ver.  9    ''"^   being    called    sons   of    God.      It 

seems  as  if  Jesus  took  pains  to 
group  a  trait  which  despises  the  earth  and  looks 


THE    WORLDS    SAVOR    AND    LIGHT  39 

to  heaven  by  the  side  of  one  which  concihates 
men  and  promotes  peace  on  the  earth.  The  aspir- 
ing are  placed  by  the  side  of  the  merciful ;  the 
single  of  heart  who  dwell  in  the  very  sight  of  God 
are  placed  next  to  those  who  labor  for  peace  among 
men.  The  zealous  and  those  who  care  not  for 
the  opinions  of  men  may  be  sons  of  God ;  but  it  is 
the  peacemakers  who  get  the  reputation  of  being 
sons  of  God.  And  it  is  worth  while  to  have  that 
reputation.  Do  not  think  that  it  counts  for  noth- 
ing to  have  men  regard  you  as  one  in  whom  God 
himself  dwells  and  works.  It  is  not  well  for  even 
our  good  to  be  evil  spoken  of.  So  Jesus  wisely 
balances  one  trait  of  character,  and  guards  against 
its  fanatical  excess,  by  pointing  out  the  comple- 
mentary trait.  It  is  consistent  with  the  most 
rigid  adherence  to  principle,  and  the  most  aspiring 
unworldiness,  to  be  merciful  and  conciliatory  even 
among  imperfect  and  wicked  men.  And  it  is  the 
peaceful  and  conciliatory  side  of  the  character, 
after  all,  that  gets  for  any  one  the  reputation  of 
being  a  seeker  after  heavenly  attainments. 

Finally,  Jesus    pronounces    those 
blessed  who  are  persecuted  for  right-    Ygj._  10-12 
eousness'  sake.    These  get  their  idea 
of  righteousness   from   their  insight   into   eternal 
truth.     They  always  seem  out   of  joint  with  the 
formal    righteousness    of    the    unspiritual.      Their 
righteousness  has  an  unexpected  look,  like  that  of 
Christ,  of  whom  it  was  prophesied, 
"He  hath  no  form  nor  comeliness  ;    isa.  53  :  2,  3 
and  when  we  see  him,  there  is  no 
beauty  that    we    should    desire    him.   .   .  As    one 


40   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

from  whom  men  hide  their  face  he  was  despised, 
and  we  esteemed  him  not."  The  superficial  and 
conventional  do  not  look  for  the  roots  of  right- 
eousness ;  they  only  judge  by  its  exterior,  and 
commend  simply  what  men  generally  expect  of  a 
righteous  man.  And  when  a  man  has  his  springs 
in  God  he  is  too  near  the  heart  of  things,  too  orig- 
inal and  first-handed,  for  the  inattentive  world  to 
understand  him.  He  is  essentially  on  the  ground 
that  the  prophets  occupied — those  who  saw  God's 
will  and  goodness  for  themselves  and  spoke  just 
as  his  Spirit  prompted.  They  were  persecuted,  as 
will  be  many  a  sincere  and  original  Christian  who 
derives  his  righteousness  directly  from  the  primal 
source.  So  the  fact  that  men  are  persecuted  for 
righteousness'  sake  will  be  a  sign  of  their  blessed- 
ness. It  shows  them  to  be  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  And  if  this  persecution  should  befall 
Christ's  hearers  themselves,  let  them  rejoice  ;  for 
they  but  experience  the  treatment  which  the 
prophets  themselves  experienced. 

This  is  a  very  brief  indication  of  the  riches  of 
truth  contained  in  these  Beatitudes.  The  blessed 
man,  the  ideal  man  here  portrayed,  is  at  once  in 
nearest,  freshest  contact  with  heaxen  and  eternal 
realities,  and  in  truest  sympathy  with  whatever 
makes  for  mercy  and  peace  on  the  earth.  He 
really  inherits  the  earth  in  his  meekness,  while  he 
is  even  persecuted  for  his  faithfulness  to  inward 
light. 

Now  observe  how  accessible  Jesus  makes  this 
blessedness.  We  certainly  cannot  say  that  this 
part  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  set  forth  sim- 


THE    world's    savor    AND    LIGHT  4 1 

ply  as  a  formidable  law  which  is  meant  to  do  noth- 
ing but  produce  a  knowledge  of  sin. 
We  say  doctrinally  that    the   law  is    Rom.  3  :  20 
given  to  show  us  how  sinful  we  are, 
and  thus  cause  us  to  fly  to  Christ.      This  is  some- 
times taken  to  mean  that  the  law  is  meant  to  show 
how  high   and   impossible  are   the  attainments  of 
righteousness,  so  that    we  may  despair  of  it  and 
seek   ffrace.      But    do    these    Beatitudes    labor   to 

O 

make  righteousness  appear  unattainable .''  They 
certainly  set  forth  a  righteousness  far  more  inward 
and  spiritual  than  any  righteousness  of  law.  But 
are  not  the  traits  described  the  most  directly  at- 
tainable of  all  by  the  penitent  and  humble  heart  ? 
The  characteristics  of  those  who  are  poor  in  spirit, 
who  mourn,  who  are  meek,  who  hunger  and  thirst, 
who  are  merciful,  who  make  peace,  who  are  sin- 
cere of  heart,  who  are  disliked  for  their  righteous- 
ness— cannot  any  humble  heart  hope  for  a  share 
in  such  virtues.''  If  Jesus  had  said,  "Blessed  are 
the  brave,"  he  would  have  been  pointing  to  a  trait 
which  only  those  of  a  certain  natural  disposition 
could  hope  to  have.  If  he  had  said,  *  Blessed  are 
the  respectable,"  he  would  have  been  pointing  to 
something  dependent  on  social  conditions.  If  he 
had  said,  "  Blessed  are  the  faultless,"  he  would 
have  been  promoting  the  self-deception  of  prig- 
gish ness,  or  abandoning  people  to  despair.  Many 
things  in  which  we  count  men  fortunate  are  possi- 
ble only  to  those  who  begin  with  certain  advan- 
tages of  nurture,  heredity,  education,  leisure,  or 
opulence.  They  are  the  righteousness  of  a  class. 
But    Jesus    makes    blessedness    accessible    to   all. 


42      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

The  virtues  here  described  are  virtues  which  any 
one  may  begin  to  have,  as  it  were,  on  small  capi- 
tal. He  need  not  be  fortunately  born,  educated, 
or  endowed,  nor  have  a  command  of  his  time.  He 
need  only  be  poor  in  spirit,  unsatisfied,  ardent  for 
righteousness,  merciful.  Any  one  can  be  that  by 
penitence  and  humility.  The  only  gate  to  such 
blessedness  is  the  strait  and  narrow  one  of  repent- 
ance. 

Again,  these  are  virtues  which  a  man  may  pro- 
fess without  presumption  or  vanity.  It  does  a  man 
no  harm  to  think  of  himself  as  poor  in  spirit,  as 
sad,  as  a-hungered  for  righteousness,  or  even  as 
meek  and  merciful.  There  is  no  danger  of  conceit 
in  making  a  profession  of  such  goodness.  On  the 
other  hand,  when  a  person  professes  himself  fault- 
less, see  what  a  ridiculous  figure  he  cuts  and  how 
much  harm  he  does  himself.  He  who  says,  "  I 
have  not  sinned  for  so  many  months,"  is  deplora- 
bly blind  as  to  what  true  righteousness  is.  In  the 
same  way,  when  a  man  professes  to  have  attained 
the  holiness  of  perfect  quiescent  trust  and  passive 
will-lessness,  he  is  very  apt  to  do  his  soul,  and 
especially  his  influence,  a  harm  thereby.  Even 
when  one  professes  the  special  presence  and  favor- 
itism of  God,  men  are  inclined  to  look  at  his  hands 
and  see  whether  they  are  clean.  There  are  virtues 
which  one  may  strive  after  and  yet  which  one  may 
not  safely  profess  to  have  attained.  The  conscious 
possession  of  them  brings  with  it  only  conceit,  or 
the  cessation  of  progress  and  usefulness. 

And  yet  Christianity  is  a  profession.  We  are 
expected  to  profess  to  have  something  which  the 


THE    WORLD  S    SAVOR    AND    LIGHT  43 

sinful  world  has  not.  Is  there  any  good  thing  we 
can  profess  to  have  without  harming  ourselves  ? 
Is  there  any  excellence  we  can  persuade  ourselves 
that  we  possess  without  conceit  ?  Do  we  not  find 
it  here  in  the  Beatitudes  ?  Here  is  something 
which  the  humble  soul  may  know  it  has,  and  in 
which  it  may  rejoice  with  exceeding  joy,  and  yet 
continue  humble.  A  man  may,  without  harm  to 
his  spirit,  say,  "  I  know  that  I  am  poor,  that  I 
mourn  for  better  things,  that  I  shrink  from  push- 
ing myself  in  comparison  with  others,  that  I  for- 
give everybody  from  my  heart."  And  the  Saviour 
seems  to  say,  "Very  well;  know  it,  rejoice  in  it, 
and  be  blessed  !  " 

So  the  Saviour  knows  that  he  is 
ministering  to  no  self-conceit  when  Yev,  13 
he  goes  on  to  say  to  such  ones,  "  Ve 
arc  the  salt  of  the  earth."  By  the  "ye"  he  does 
not  mean  simply  the  disciples  who  have  been  des- 
ignated by  name,  but  those  who  have  taken  these 
Beatitudes  home  to  their  hearts  and  can  say,  "  It 
is  my  purpose  to  be  that ;  I  a7n  that  by  God's 
grace."  To  say  to  a  man,  "You  are  the  very  salt 
of  the  earth,  you  are  the  light  of  the  world,"  would 
make  him  insufferably  conceited  if  such  a  compli- 
ment referred  to  such  virtues  as  faultlessness, 
courage,  or  dignity.  But  to  his  blessed  ones  Jesus 
can  unqualifiedly  say,  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth,"  and  know  that  their  very  consciousness  of 
the  possession  will  minister  to  their  humility. 
The  more  they  take  that  kind  of  excellence  home 
to  themselves,  the  more  humble  and  careful  they 
will  be. 


44      MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

Such  are  the  very  source  of  acceptable  savor  in 
society.  Where  do  we  go  to  get  saltness  ?  To 
the  salt  itself.  We  do  not  have  to  take  pains  to 
salt  our  salt  first ;  it  is  essentially  salt,  its  saltness 
is  its  very  nature.  Take  away  its  saltness  and  it 
is  good  for  nothing.  Now  the  kind  of  blessed 
men  that  Jesus  has  described,  who  get  their  im- 
pulse to  good  from  heaven  itself,  do  not  derive 
their  quality  of  goodness  from  the  world ;  they 
give  of  their  quality  to  the  world.  The  man 
whose  salt  has  to  be  salted  from  the  world  is  of 
no  good  at  all.  Jesus  means  to  say,  "  Whatever 
exists  in  society  to  give  it  taste  and  palatableness 
comes  from  you.  You  dwell  nearest  the  center  of 
saving  power.  Whatever  exists  in  society  to  give 
it  light  comes  from  you.  From  you  the  rays 
stream  out.  You  are  not  illumined  by  the  world  ; 
you  illumine  the  world.  Think  of  yourselves  then 
as  those  on  whom  the  world  depends  for  savor  and 
light.  Let  it  give  you  a  sense  of  your  responsi- 
bility. If  you  do  not  give  light,  where  shall  they 
get  it .''  If  your  salt  have  no  taste,  how  shall  it  be 
salted .'' "  Upon  us,  my  brethren  of  the  Beati- 
tudes, rests  the  duty  of  saving  and  enlightening 
the  world. 

Finally,  the  blessed   man   is  con- 

Ver.  14-16    spicuous.      He    cannot    have    even 

these  humble  qualities  which  Jesus 

describes  and  nobody  know  it.      People  do  not  put 

a  lamp  under  a  bushel. An  extinguisher  is  a  poor 

instrument  by  which  to  promote  illumination.  A 
city  set  on  a  hill  cannot  be  hid.  And  these  quali- 
ties which  a  man   may  safely  profess  he  may  sav- 


THE    world's    savor    AND    LIGHT  45 

ingly  display.  As  there  is  no  conceit  in  the  con- 
scious possession  of  them,  so  there  is  no  ostenta- 
tion in  the  determined  exhibition  of  them.  In 
fact,  such  blessedness  does  its  good  in  the  world 
by  being  observed.  It  becomes  an  inspiration ; 
men  are  attracted  by  it ;  they  are  led,  not  to  praise 
the  human  possessors,  but  to  glorify  the  Father 
in  heaven.  So  if  we  let  our  light  shine  in  this 
way,  not  forcing  it  nor  displacing  the  normal  ac- 
cents of  our  example  for  the  sake  of  display,  but 
simply  being  naturally  our  blessed  selves,  it  will 
hide  us  in  the  glory  of  the  God  who  shines  around 
us ;  it  will  win  the  souls  of  men  to  the  infinite  sav- 
ing Love.     So  let  your  light  shine. 

Jesus  thus  awakens  men's  spirits  by  way  of  their 
blessedness.  He  sets  them  to  looking  forward  to 
what  their  value  is  ideally.  His  law  is  not  the 
prescribing  of  rules,  but  the  opening  of  heaven  to 
our  sight.  He  sets  men  to  aspiring  and  reaching 
upward.  He  describes  a  blessedness  that  men 
may  at  once  persuade  themselves  that  they  have. 
He  does  not  try  to  make  men  condemn  themselves 
for  not  having  it,  but  makes  it  so  accessible  that 
the  self-condemnation  is  swallowed  up  in  joyous 
sense  of  possession.  And  yet  such  possession  is 
open  only  to  penitence.  The  message,  "  Repent, 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand,"  comes  be- 
fore the  Beatitudes  in  all  Christian  experience. 
The  making  of  the  kingdom  accessible  is  no 
cheapening  of  the  terms  of  salvation.  It  calls  in 
the  humble  and  penitent,  though  he  be  a  publican, 
and  excludes  the  Pharisee.  Blessed  is  the  man 
who  is  thus  won  to  s:oodness. 


46   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

How  wonderful  is  this  way  of  setting  forth  the 
law  of  the  kingdom  of  God  !  Who  but  a  divine 
being  would  thus  have  known  how  to  win  men  to 
their  own  salvation  ?  May  the  Spirit  of  God  write 
these  Beatitudes  on  our  heart. 


Ill 


RELATION  OF  THE  MORALITY  OF 
ENTHUSIASM  TO  LAW 


Matt,  s  ■•  17-48 


Ill 


Think  not  that  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets  :  I 
came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  Till 
heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise 
pass  away  from  the  law,  till  all  things  be  accomplished.  Whoso- 
ever therefore  shall  break  one  of  these  least  commandments,  and 
shall  teach  men  so,  shall  be  called  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  : 
but  whosoever  shall  do  and  teach  them,  he  shall  be  called  great 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  For  I  say  unto  you,  that  except  your 
righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to  them  of  old  time,  Thou  shall 
not  kill  ;  and  whosoever  shall  kill  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judge- 
ment :  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  one  who  is  angry  with  his 
brother  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgement ;  and  whosoever  shall 
say  to  his  brother,  Raca,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  council  ;  and 
whosoever  shall  say.  Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  hell  of 
fire.  If  therefore  thou  art  offering  thy  gift  at  the  altar,  and  there 
rememberest  that  thy  brother  hath  aught  against  thee,  leave  there 
thy  gift  before  the  altar,  and  go  thy  way,  first  be  reconciled  to  thy 
brother,  and  then  come  and  offer  thy  gift.  Agree  with  thine  ad- 
versary quickly,  whiles  thou  art  with  him  in  the  way  ;  lest  haply 
the  adversary  deliver  thee  to  the  judge,  and  the  judge  deliver  thee 
to  the  officer,  and  thou  be  cast  into  prison.  Verily  I  say  unto 
thee,  Thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence,  till  thou  have  paid 
the  last  farthing. 

Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said.  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adul- 
tery :  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  one  that  looketh  on  a  woman 
to  lust  after  her  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his 
heart.  And  if  thy  right  eye  causeth  thee  to  stumble,  pluck  it  out, 
and  cast  it  from  thee  :  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy 
members  should  perish,  and  not  thy  whole  body  be  cast  into  hell. 
And  if  thy  right  hand  causeth  thee  to  stumble,  cut  it  off,  and  cast 
it  from  thee  :  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members 
should  perish,  and  not  thy  whole  body  go  into  hell.  It  was  said 
also.  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  let  him  give  her  a  writing 
of  divorcement  :  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  one  that  putteth 
away  his  wife,  saving  for  the  cause  of  fornication,  maketh  her  an 

D  49 


50   MAGNA  CHAKTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

adulteress  :  and  whosoever  sliall  marry  her  when  slie  is  put  away 
comniitletli  adultery. 

Again,  ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to  them  of  old  time,  Thou 
shall  not  forswear  thyself,  hut  shalt  perform  unto  the  Lord  thine 
oaths  :  but  I  say  unto  you.  Swear  not  at  all  ;  neither  by  the 
heaven,  for  it  is  the  throne  of  God  :  nor  by  the  earth,  for  it  is  the 
footstool  of  his  feet;  nor  by  Jerusalem,  for  it  is  the  city  of  the 
great  King.  Neither  shalt  thou  swear  by  thy  head,  for  thou  canst 
not  make  one  hair  white  or  black,  liut  let  your  speech  be,  Vea, 
yea;  Nay,  nay:  and  whatsoever  is  more  than  these  is  of  the  evil 
one. 

Ve  have  heard  that  il  was  said.  An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth 
for  a  tooth  :  but  I  say  unto  you,  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil  :  but 
whosoever  smiteth  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other 
also.  And  if  any  man  would  go  to  law  with  thee,  and  take  away 
thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloke  also.  And  whosoever  shall  com- 
pel thee  to  go  one  mile,  go  with  him  twain,  (iive  to  him  that 
asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not 
thou  away. 

Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour, 
and  hate  thine  enemy  :  but  I  say  unto  you.  Love  your  enemies, 
and  pray  for  them  that  i)ersecute  you  ;  that  ye  may  be  the  sons  of 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  :  for  he  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on 
the  evil  and  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust. 
For  if  ye  love  them  that  love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ?  do  not 
even  the  publicans  the  same  ?  And  if  ye  salute  your  brethren 
only,  what  do  ye  more  than  others?  do  not  even  the  (Jentiles  the 
same  ?  Ye  therefore  shall  be  perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Father  is 
perfect. 

The  hasty  inference  was  sure  to  be  drawn  that 
Jesus,  in  proclaiming  the  kingdom  of  God,  was 
about  to  institute  a  general  overturning.  He 
would  be  expected  by  some  to  begin  at  the  very 
beginning  of  things,  first  sweeping  the  ground 
clear  of  all  laws  and  institutions  already  in  exist- 
ence, and  making  his  followers  free  from  any  obli- 
gations except  those  which  he  laid  upon  them. 
He  is  careful  to  inform  them  that  such  is  not  the 
fact. 

And  yet   such  an   inference  was  not  so  prepos- 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW      5  I 

terous  as  one  might  think.  Jesus  had  come,  as 
we  see  from  the  first  part  of  this  chapter,  pro- 
claiming a  kind  of  goodness  that  is  higher  than 
obedience  to  law.  When  we  for  our  part  start  out 
to  make  men  orderly  and  well-behaved,  we  take 
pains  to  make  them  very  scrupulous,  very  consci- 
entious ;  we  give  them  a  moral  law  to  obey.  But 
Jesus  seems,  in  the  beginning  of  his  sermon,  to 
pass  over  the  consideration  of  conformity  to  moral 
rules.  He  takes  pains  rather  to  make  men  very 
aspiring.  He  sets  before  them  their  blessedness 
as  the  goal  of  their  wishes.  He  makes  that  bless- 
edness  to  consist  in  such  things  as  poverty  of 
spirit,  eagerness  to  be  righteous,  singleness  of 
heart,  faithfulness  to  inward  light.  He  teaches  a 
kind  of  goodness  which  one  may  have  by  embrac- 
ing it,  wishing  for  it,  persuading  himself  that  he 
possesses  it.  This  is  quite  distinct  from  the  kind 
of  goodness  which  consists  in  obeying  moral  laws. 
It  is  a  kind  of  ardor  or  enthusiasm  for  high  things 
rather  than  a  mechanical  committing  to  memory 
of  rules.  It  is  a  kind  of  law-making  power  in  the 
heart  rather  than  slavish  conformity  to  a  set  of 
positive  precepts.  Jesus  undertakes  to  get  hold 
of  men  from  another  side  than  that  from  which 
legislators  and  teachers  of  morals  do.  They  try 
to  make  men  scrupulous,  he  seeks  to  make  them 
enthusiastic  ;  they  govern  by  caution,  he  by  inspi- 
ration ;  they  aim  at  correctness,  he  at  life  and 
movement.  Jesus  knows  that  to  get  the  man's 
spirit  alive  and  seeking  after  harmony  with  God's 
will,  as  well  as  after  the  peace  and  welfare  of  his 
fellow-men,  is  to  set  a  power  at  work  in  that  man 


52      MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

which  will  make  him  good.  Me  knows  too,  that  a 
goodness  which  is  only  a  keeping  of  laws,  without 
any  inspiration  by  which  the  spirit  of  those  laws 
becomes  a  part  of  the  man's  nature,  is  no  real 
goodness  at  all ;  it  is  only  restraint  which  runs 
wild  as  soon  as  the  pressure  of  the  law  is  with- 
drawn. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  Jesus  is  dealing  not  with 
laws  but  with  the  spirit  that  supersedes  laws.  If 
a  man  has  all  that  is  expressed  in  the  Beatitudes, 
he  needs  no  laws.  He  becomes  a  law  unto  him- 
self. Now,  of  course,  the  hasty  inference  from 
this  would  be:  "Then  for  us,  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
Moses  no  longer  has  authority.  We  are  on  a 
higher  level.  The  Ten  Commandments  and  all 
the  teachings  of  the  ancients  are  henceforth  obso- 
lete. Jesus  our  Master  has  come  to  set  up  a  new 
kingdom,  and  he  begins  by  destroying  the  law  and 
the  prophets.  He  is  a  new  Moses,  entirely  super- 
seding the  old."  So  Jesus  finds  it  necessary,  as 
soon  as  he  has  defined  the  blessedness  which  his 
followers  are  to  seek,  to  assure  them  that  this 
higher  blessedness  is  no  repudiation  of  the  humble 
goodness  of  law. 

His  caution  was  necessary.  It  is  necessary  to- 
day. For  it  is  only  guarding  against  the  incon- 
sistency which  we  see  constantly  reappearing  in 
men's  lives,  the  inconsistency  of  those  who  are 
religious  without  being  moral.  The  figure  of  the 
man  who  prays  and  exhorts  and  gets  into  an 
ecstasy  of  benevolent  enthusiasm,  and  then,  on 
the  other  hand,  has  to  be  watched  in  his  dealing 
to  guard  against    his  cheating,   is  a  familiar  one. 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW      53 

We  have  had  him  held  up  before  us  until  we  cer- 
tainly ought  to  recognize  him.  He  forms  the  sta- 
ple of  the  unbeliever's  taunt,  and  points  many  a 
turn  of  fine  wit  as  well  as  coarse. 
We  loathe  him  when  he  appears  as  an  Rev.  2  :  15 
antinomian,  whom  John  denounces 
under  the  name  of  Nicolaitan,  as  hated  of  God  ; 
we  laugh  at  him  when  he  turns  up  in  the  story  of 
the  colored  revivalist,  who  was  afraid  to  say  any- 
thing in  his  conventicle,  where  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
so  powerfully  present,  about  the  impropriety  of 
chicken  stealing,  for  fear  it  would  throw  a  coldness 
on  the  meeting.  The  inconsistent  religious  man 
is  simply  the  one  who  has  the  l^eatitudes  without 
having  the  law.  He  has  the  goodness  that  he 
may  embrace  and  rejoice  in  mentally  and  spiritu- 
ally, while  he  has  not  held  fast  to  the  humbler 
possession  of  uprightness  of  life. 

Now  take  note  that  Jesus  begins  with  the  good- 
ness that  the  irreligious  despise,  the  goodness  of 
enthusiasm,  of  religion.  He  did  not  make  a  mis- 
take in  doing  this.  But  he  carefully  shows  us  that 
this,  to  be  genuine,  must  include  the  lower  or  legal 
and  moral  form  of  goodness  which  the  world  in- 
sists upon.  Religion  and  morality  are  not  the 
same,  but  religion  must  include  morality.  Re- 
ligion may  be  had  by  embracing  it,  believing  and 
rejoicing  in  it ;  but  no  amount  of  believing  and 
rejoicing  will  straighten  up  one's  accounts  when 
they  are  false.  Yet  believing,  trusting  God,  seek- 
ing him  with  all  the  heart,  furnishes  just  the  inspi- 
ration needed  to  make  the  man  keep  his  accounts 
straight  as  well  as  do  far  more.      Now  the  Saviour 


54   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

says  :  "  Let  him  not  presume  to  get  his  blessed- 
ness in  the  higher  realm  of  volition  and  action 
when  this  part  of  his  life  is  culpably  wanting. 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  destroys  not  the  law  and 
the  prophets." 

I.  This  then  is  the  first  principle 
Ver.  17-20  enunciated  in  this  part  of  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount :  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  preserves  the  law.  That  law  is  eternal ; 
it  is  the  mind  of  God.  He  who  discovered  it  dis- 
covered a  principle  of  conduct  which  shall  never 
cease  to  be  true.  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one 
jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law 
till  all  be  fulfilled. 

And  yet  the  man  who  loves  God  and  has  his 
kingdom  set  up  in  his  heart  does  not  think  much 
about  this  law.  He  does  not  have  to  be  restrained 
by  main  strength,  as  it  were,  by  the  law  which 
says,  «♦  Thou  shalt  not  kill  ;  thou  shalt  not  steal  ; 
thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness."  These  re- 
straints are  hardly  ever  present  to  his  mind  :  he  is 
conscious  of  no  compulsion  from  them.  He  sim- 
ply has  no  disposition  to  transgress  these  com- 
mands ;  they  become  no  more  necessary  to  him 
than  would  a  law  saying,  "  Thou  shalt  not  walk 
into  the  fire."  He  is  living  in  a 
I  Tim.  I  :  9  higher  sphere  of  things.  Such  pro- 
hibitions are  for  those  who  are  vi- 
cious and  unruly  in  disposition,  not  for  those  who 
have  a  new  heart  which  is  conformed  to  the  will 
of  God. 

That  law,  however,  is  by  no  means  destroyed  in 
becoming  thus  invisible.     It  ceases  to  compel  the 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW      5  5 

conduct  of  the  man  because  it  is  fulfilled.  He 
obeyed  it  before  he  had  time  to  hear  its  command. 
I  sometimes  liken  that  moral  law  of  prohibitions 
to  the  bony  skeleton  in  our  bodies.  We  have 
them  there,  but  we  do  not  see  them.  They  giv^e 
us  strength  ;  they  are  the  means  by  which  our 
frame  performs  its  movements.  These  skeletons 
are  not  a  pleasant  thing  to  contemplate  when 
brought  out  to  view.  They  are  covered  by  the 
beauty  and  gracefulness  of  flesh  and  muscle,  so 
that  they  are  hidden  from  sight,  but  they  are 
operative  all  the  same.  So  with  that  strong,  bony 
framework  of  law  and  morality  inside  of  our  re- 
ligion. Those  warm  desires,  fervent  aspirations 
after  union  with  God,  sweet  hopes  and  rejoicings 
of  faith — these  are  far  more  pleasant  to  engage 
the  consciousness  of  the  Christian  than  the  mere 
restraints  of  law.  These  are  to  be  his  life  in 
which  he  takes  delight  and  in  which  he  finds  his 
blessedness.  But  these  experiences  are  like  the 
beauty  of  flesh  and  blood  which  covers  the  bony 
frame.  Inside  of  them  is  strong,  conscientious 
heed  of  God's  prohibitions.  The  love  of  God  in 
which  we  delight  has  as  its  framework  the  fear  of 
God.  This  law,  saying,  "Thou  shalt  not,"  is  what 
gives  strength  and  firmness  to  our  character.  It 
is  not  repealed  but  fulfilled  in  the  sweeter  expe- 
rience of  the  religious  life,  just  as  the  bony  frame- 
work is  fulfilled  in  the  muscles  and  flesh  which 
hide  it  from  view.  We  do  not  think  of  the  law, 
"Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  as  actuating  our  conduct 
so  as  to  make  it  any  different  from  what  it  would 
otherwise  be,  but  its   strength  is  all  wrought  up 


56      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

into  that  sweeter  religious  experience  which  is  our 
blessedness. 

But  Jesus  seems  to  recognize  a  law-making 
power  in  the  heart  of  the  one  who  is  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  There  are  in  that  heart  the  en- 
lightenment and  disposition  which  make  need- 
ful such  moral  laws  as  these.  He  is  a  law  unto 
himself.  Thus  his  morality  has  all  the  freshness 
and  zest  of  a  perpetual  discovery  of  new  principles. 
With  his  regenerate  faithfulness  to  the  inner  light 
of  the  divine  Spirit,  he  is  his  own  Moses,  to  whom 
God's  will  as  clearly  reveals  itself  as  it  did  to  the 
lawgiver  on  the  height  of  Sinai. 

Now  I  am  aware  that  this  doctrine  of  inner  illu- 
mination may  be  perverted.  I  know  that  only  the 
very  highest  and  truest  of  those  who  see  God's 
will  can  be  trusted  to  walk  solely  by  their  intui- 
tions. The  man  who  is  acting  from  personal  in- 
ward revelations  is  generally  regarded  as  an  erratic 
man.  Quakers,  Anabaptists,  Ouietists,  whatever 
the  name,  those  who  profess  a  daily  guidance  from 
inward  illumination,  are  distrusted  as  fanatics.  We 
say,  "  If  their  inward  illumination  is  their  only 
guide,  what  is  to  prevent  them  from  taking  a  no- 
tion some  day  to  go  contrary  to  all  sober  rules  of 
conduct  and  all  right  and  morality .-'  What  is  to 
prevent  them  at  least  from  getting  astride  of  a 
very  tall  hobby  and  riding  it  to  destruction  .-• " 

The  Saviour  answers  this  by  implying  that  the 
true  Spirit  of  God  may  be  trusted  to  guide  men 
more  safely  than  all  that.  The  inward  light  is  in 
entire  harmony  with  the  light  which  revealed  to 
Moses  his  law.      It  is  the  same  Spirit,  and  he  will 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW      5/ 

lead  to  the  same  truth.  Jesus  recognizes  the  fact 
that  the  subjects  of  his  kingdom  will  teach  as  they 
are  inspired  to  teach  by  the  indwelling  Spirit  of  God. 
Those  old  principles  will  become  so  much  alive  to 
them  that  they  shall  proclaim  them  from  their  own 
blessed  insight  of  their  truth.  "But 
now,"  he  says,  "  if  any  one  in  the  ex-  Ygt,  19 
ercise  of  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  teaches 
things  contrary  to  the  least  of  these  command- 
ments, he  may  be  of  the  kingdom,  but  he  shall  be 
dwarfed  to  insignificant  usefulness  and  influence 
in  that  kingdom."  It  is  conceivable  that  a  man 
with  a  really  divine  impulse  may  so  misunderstand 
the  guidance  of  God  that  he  shall  pronounce  some 
of  the  old  enactments  obsolete;  but  sooner  or 
later  he  will  find  himself  becoming  one  of  the 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Those  who  be- 
come great  in  usefulness — and  Jesus  recognizes 
no  other  greatness — will  always  have  promptings 
of  spirit  which  are  in  harmony  with  the  old  law. 
The  Spirit  will  not  contradict  himself.  The  old 
truth  and  the  new  will  never  conflict.  He  who  is 
so  progressive  as  to  deny  the  old  truth  will  have 
his  reward  in  a  speedy  relapse  into  insignificance. 
While  the  voice  is  novel  it  may  attract  a  few  fol- 
lowers ;  but  its  freshness  soon  wears  off,  and  then 
the  actual  outcome  is  seen  to  be  of  small  account. 
The  teacher  may  have  been  enthusiastic  and  zeal- 
ous for  his  new  teaching;  but  he  is  doomed  to  the 
worst  of  disappointments  for  the  zealous  teacher, 
uselessness.  It  is  love's  labor  lost.  Except  in  so 
far  as  the  new  teaching  preserved  the  spirit  of  the 
old,  it  has  failed  to  achieve  permanent  good. 


58      MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOU 

It  will  be  seen  that  such  a  restriction  of  the 
fresh-surging  impulse  of  the  kingdom  to  harmony 
with  the  past  is  not  making  disciples  the  slaves  of 
a  book,  afraid  to  be  guided  by  the  spirit  within 
them,  conservative  and  only  conservative,  lifeless 
like  the  scribes.  On  the  contrary,  the  spirit  in  us, 
through  Christ,  is  greater  than  the  spirit  of  con- 
formity. Our  religion  is  more  than  a  commentary 
religion — it  is  fresh  every  day.  It  gives  us  daily 
inward  light.  But  inward  light  includes  faithful- 
ness to  the  wisdom  of  the  past.  Even  if  there  is 
something  more  of  us  than  carefulness  to  preserve 
the  old  way.s,  that  something  will  be  useful  and 
permanent  in  its  effects  only  as  the  wisdom  of  the 
past  is  imbedded  in  it  and  fulfilling  its  own  spirit 
by  it.  Let  him  who  follows  the 
I  Cor.  9  :  27  Spirit  of  God  in  his  teaching  be- 
ware lest,  having  preached  to  others, 
he  himself  should  become  a  castaway,  that  is, 
should  be  laid  on  the  shelf,  as  we  say — should  with 
all  his  fervor  of  enthusiasm  cease  to  have  signifi- 
cance in  the  development  of  true  religion. 

The  kingdom,  then,  preserves  the  law :  the  New 
Testament  fulfills  the  Old. 

2.    Let  us  now  see  how  much  more 

Ver.  20-48    f'-^l^y  ^'i*^!   according  to  its  spirit  the 

law    is    kept    in    the    kingdom    of 

heaven.      Not  only  does  the  kingdom  preserve  the 

law,  but  it  is  the  only  way  of  acquiring  the  power 

to  keep  the  law  in  its  spirit. 

We  shall   see  as  we  look   at   the   Saviour's   de- 
tailed examples,  how  much  different  a  thing  it  is 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW      59 

to  keep  the  law  in  the  spirit  from  what  it  is  to 
keep  it  in  the  letter.      It  is  the  spirit  of  the  law 
which   is  to  constitute  the  higher  righteousness, 
the  righteousness  which  is  to  exceed  that  of  the 
scribes    and    Pharisees.       "Except 
your     righteousness,"    says     Jesus,    ygj.^  20 
"exceed    the    righteousness  of    the 
scribes  and    Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."     "You  are  to  keep 
the  law  according  to  its  spirit :  these  only  aim  to 
preserve  its  letter,  and  in  so  doing  they  often  deny 
its  spirit." 

The    first    example    is    the    law 
against  murder.      "Thou  shalt   not    ygj.^  21-26 
kill,"  is  the  plain  precept.      But  this 
law  may  be  kept  in  the  mere  letter,  though  a  per- 
son  have   a  heart   ever  so  full  of   murderous   im- 
pulses, provided  only  he  stop  short  of  the  actual 
shedding   of  blood.      Now    the    Saviour    says  the 
spirit  of  the  law  is  against  all  which  leads  to  mur- 
der.    Anger  against  our  brother  is  the  root  of  mur- 
der.     If  we  cherish  that,  we  are  in  danger  of  the 
criminal  court;  we  have  only  to  give  it  clear  sway 
and  we  shall  end  there.      If  we  have  the  true  spirit 
which  originated  that   law  we  shall  begin  with  our 
feelings   toward   our   brother,  rather    than    simply 
with  our  overt  acts.      "  Whosoever 
hateth   his   brother  is  a  murderer,"    i  john  3  :  15 
says  John.      We  are  to  guard  then, 
against  all  alienation  from  our  brother.     When  we 
have  come  to  that  point  where  we  call  him  "fool " 
we  are  on  our  way  to  the  Gehenna  of  fire  just  as 
truly  as  if  we  have  struck  him  a  fatal  blow.     We 


6o      MAGNA    CIIARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

have  not  got  quite  so  far  along  on  the  path,  but 
the  murderous  impulse  will  surely  take  us  there 
unless  something  entirely  opposite  to  it  restrain 
our  hand. 

The  Saviour  then  goes  on  to  in- 
Ver,  23  24  culcate  still  another  duty  by  way  of 
guarding  against  the  growth  of  an- 
ger. It  is  the  same  old  duty  of  taking  care  not 
to  let  our  worship  or  our  religion  be  separated 
from  the  moral  law  in  the  case.  We  might  think 
of  a  man  cherishing  anger  against  his  fellow-man, 
and  then  going  and  praying  to  God  as  if  he  had 
no  concern  with  it.  Indeed,  men  often  do  so. 
You  shall  see  men  who  are  looked  up  to  in  the 
church  carrying  a  grudge  against  others  for  years, 
so  that  they  will  not  speak  to  them  in  the  street. 
They  make  their  prayers  before  God,  and  persuade 
themselves  that  they  are  enjoying  religion,  when 
there  is  all  the  while  that  alienation  in  the  heart 
which  keeps  them  from  having  any  intercourse 
with  their  brother.  This  is  precisely  that  having 
religion  without  morality  against  which  Jesus  so 
carefully  guards  in  this  part  of  his  sermon. 

Jesus  says  in  effect,  "  You  have  no  business  to 
pray  so  long  as  you  are  unreconciled  with  your 
brother.  You  have  no  business  with  religion  and 
the  enjoyments  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  long 
as  there  is  evil  in  your  relations  to  your  fellow- 
men."  He  speaks  of  our  religion  as  a  bringing  of 
our  gift  to  the  altar.  But  prayer  is  our  offering, 
and  the  rule  applies  to  our  praying  as  well  as  to 
our  bringing  of  meat- offerings,  as  the  Jews  did  in 
the  time  of  Christ.      When  you  get  down  to  pray, 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW     6 1 

then,  and  remember  that  your  brother  has  some- 
thing against  you,  go  your  way ;  first  be  recon- 
ciled to  your  brother,  and  then  come  and  seek 
communion  with  God.  The  communion  with  God 
that  cherishes  hatred  is  a  spurious  communion. 

All  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
law  against  murder.  Not  only  are  we  not  to  kill, 
but  we  are  not  to  cherish  hatred ;  nay,  we  are  to 
do  all  we  can  to  keep  our  brother  from  hating  us. 
We  may  not  always  be  able  to  effect  a  reconcilia- 
tion when  a  difference  has  arisen  between  us ;  but 
we  can  do  our  part.  We  can  divest  ourselves  of 
all  but  the  kindest  spirit  toward  him.  We  may  so 
bring  it  about  that  our  highest  wish  is  to  be  rec- 
onciled and  to  do  him  good.  "  If  it  be  possible, 
as  much  as  in  you  lieth,  be  at  peace 
with  all  men,"  says  the  apostle.  Rom.  12  :  18 
Until  our  heart  is  at  peace  with 
every  man,  we  have  no  right  to  pretend  to  enjoy 
religion.  It  will  only  make  hypocrites  of  us. 
Those  who  have  been  wise  in  winning  souls  can 
tell  you  many  a  story  of  anxious  hearts  mourning 
for  peace  with  God,  and  yet  unable  to  find  it  until 
they  have  gone  and  sought  forgiveness,  or  granted 
it,  in  some  feud  of  long  standing.  How  often,  in 
conversion,  the  hardest  thing  to  do  has  been  to 
forgive  somebody  to  whom  we  had  resolved  never 
to  yield  !  God  does  not  forgive  those  who  have 
hatred  in  their  hearts.  Any  pretense  of  religion 
with  that  unsubdued  is  hypocrisy. 

As  if  to  picture  in  strongest  colors  the  unloveli- 
ness  of  that  state  of  society  where  hatred,  or  even 
bare  justice,  determines  men's   reciprocal   action. 


62   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

Jesus  advises  the  transgressor  or  the  delinquent 
to  seize  with  all  eagerness  that  little  shred  of 
grace  which  may  be  secured  between  the  detection 
of  the  fault  and  the  turning  over  of  the  case  to  the 
dispensers  of  justice.  Agree  with  thine  adversary 
quickly  while  there  is  room  for  the  play  of  friend- 
ship and  mutual  agreement.  Avoid  as  far  as  pos- 
sible having  your  welfare  depend  on  strict  justice 
and  nothing  else.  Keep  open  all  the  chance  that 
you  can  for  mercy  and  accommodation.  Steer 
clear  of  the  law.  Live  in  the  region  of  grace  and 
friendship.  Once  let  the  law  have  its  course,  and 
there  is  no  stopping  short  of  its  full  penalty. 

Jesus    then   goes   on   to   make   a 
Ver.  27-32    similar  application  of  the  law  against 

adultery.  It  is  not  simply  the  act 
of  which  the  latter  takes  cognizance  that  is  to  be 
avoided ;  it  is  the  impurity  of  heart  which  leads  to 
it.  He  counsels  the  utmost  solicitude  in  remov- 
ing every  cause  of  offense  or  stumbling  in  this  re- 
gard, even  though  it  is  like  cutting  off  the  hand, 
or  putting  out  the  eye.  This  is  pre-eminently  a 
law  whose  transgression  is  to  be  guarded  against 
by  the  banishing  of  evil  thoughts.  Impurity  of 
heart  feasts  itself  and  grows  fat  on  evil  thoughts : 
the  imagination,  fired  by  the  sight  of  the  eyes, 
takes   flame   and   sets   the  whole  body  and   mind 

ablaze    with     sinful    passion.      Job 
Job  31  :  12    says:  "It  is  a  fire;  unto  Abaddon 

it  devoureth."  Men  often  give 
place  to  these  lascivious  emotions  until  they  are 
past  resisting  them,  and  their  whole  being  becomes 
brutalized    and   degraded.     Cicero   no  doubt   saw 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW     63 

such  men  in  his  day  to  call  forth  his  advice:  ''Si's 
a  vcticreis  amoribns  avcrsiis ;  qiiibus  si  tn  dcsid- 
cris,  lion  aliiid  qnidquani  possis  cogitarc  quavi  illud 
quod  diligis  " — "  Hold  off  from  sensuality,  for  if 
you  have  given  yourself  up  to  it,  you  will  find 
yourself  unable  to  think  of  anything  else."  How 
many  there  are  who  are  disgustingly  adulterous  in 
spirit,  and  yet  who  are  outwardly  ranked  high  in 
respectable  society.  The  utmost  fortitude  in  ban- 
ishing and  shunning  the  first  suggestions  of  evil  is 
the  only  safeguard  against  adultery  of  the  heart. 
Most  wisely  did  the  Saviour  recognize  and  rebuke 
that  too  common  transgression  of  the  seventh 
commandment  which  consists  in  lecherous  emo- 
tions and  an  impure  imagination. 

In  immediate  connection  with  this 
Jesus  speaks  of  the  Mosaic  permis-    Yer.  31,  32 
sion   of   and    rule   for   divorce.      He 
elsewhere    calls    this    permission    a    Matt.  19  : 8 
legislation   adapted   to  men's   hard- 
ness of  heart.      But  all  mere  legislation  intended 
to  be  enforced   by  external   power  must  be  in  a 
measure  adapted  to  men's  hardness  of  heart.     In 
civil  affairs  the  law  must  give  a  permission  in  the 
matter  which   evil  men  may  abuse  if  they  choose. 
If  the  law  does  not  do  this,  worse  evils  will  be  in- 
troduced.    But  the  kingdom  of  heaven  teaches  a 
faithfulness  to  the   marriage  vow  which  desires  no 
such   permission.      It   teaches  a  consideration  for 
the  woman  which  will   not   allow  the  man   to   put 
her  away,  however    incompatible    her  disposition, 
and   thus   subject   her  to  the  temptation   to  seek 
support    by   alliance    with    some  one  else.      The 


64      MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

kingdom  of  heaven  considers  the  commandment 
broken  by  making  others  commit  adultery,  as  well 
as  by  doing  so  ourselves.  Thus  the  spirit  of  the 
law  not  only  guards  against  transgression,  but  re- 
moves from  others  the  temptation  to  transgress. 

Then  in  the  matter  of  oaths,  Jesus 
Ver.  33-37    contrasts  the  higher  teaching  of  the 
kingdom  with  the  teaching  of  those 
of   old   time.      Of   old   they  used    to   say:    "Keep 
your  oaths.      Perform  them  as  unto 
Exod.  20  :  7    the  Lord."     The  definite  precept  of 
the  Decalogue  which  comes  nearest 
to  this  is,  "  Thou  shalt   not  take  the  name  of  the 
Lord   thy  God   in  vain."     That  is,  thou  shalt   not 
invoke  his  name  as  a  witness  of  thy  faithfulness, 
and  then  repudiate  that  oath.      Now  on  this  })lane 
of  things   this  teaching  is  as  important   now  as  it 
ever  was.     If  we  have  made  an  oath  or  a  vow  we 
are  to  keep  it.     A  good  part  of   ancient  religion 
consisted  in    its  vows,  that   is,  things   which    men 
solemnly  promised  to  do  unto  the  Lord.     The  vow 
was  a  freewill  affair ;  no  one  was  obliged  to  take 
it.     But  when  it  was  once  taken,  it 
Lev.  19  :  12    was   dishonoring  the  name   of    the 
Lord  to  fail  in  the  performance  of 
Num.  30  :  2    it.      The  calling  of  God  to  witness 
in   the  matter  was  a  solemn  proce- 
dure, and  it  was  an  awful  thing  to  break  the  oath 
of  God,  thus  making  him  a  party  to  a  lie. 

This  applied  to  all  oaths.  When  once  men  had 
named  the  name  of  God  they  felt  themselves 
bound ;  and  often  they  allowed  themselves  free- 
dom to  break  their  word  when  they  were  not  oath- 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW      65 

bound.  So  it  came  to  pass  that  men  could  believe 
them  only  under  oath.  Now,  how  does  the  higher 
teaching  apply  to  this  ?  The  Saviour  says  :  Let 
your  communication  be  so  straightforward  that 
you  do  not  need  to  take  an  oath.  Let  your  word 
be  as  good  as  your  bond.  So  live  that  men  shall 
believe  your  ungarnished,  unemphasized  assertion. 
That  is  the  ideal  state  of  things.  He  who  does 
the  most  calling  of  God  to  witness  is  the  one 
whose  veracity  needs  the  most  bolstering.  Swear 
not  at  all.  Let  your  communication  be  "Yea, 
yea.  Nay,  nay."  All  this  habit  of  using  assevera- 
tions has  come  of  a  laxness  in  veracity  which  was 
evil. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  in  thus  teaching  Jesus 
meant  to  set  forth  the  principle  that  henceforth 
oaths  shall  no  longer  be  used  in  civil  affairs.  In 
fact,  the  oath  is  still  necessary  in  legal  proceedings. 
Those  proceedings  have  to  do  with  many  who  can 
be  bound  only  by  an  oath.  Jesus  does  not  abolish 
the  law ;  he  seeks  rather  to  get  men  above  the 
necessity  of  it.  Meanwhile  the  law  must  stand 
for  those  who  are  not  above  its  level.  In  truth, 
civil  courts  are  not  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ; 
they  are  of  this  world.  They  must  of  necessity 
be  at  the  level  of  men's  "hardness  of  heart."  But 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  just  in  so  far  as  it  is 
realized  in  practical  life,  the  oath  is  not  necessary. 
People  believe  you  just  as  implicitly  without. 
And  the  way  for  those  who  are  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  to  make  progress  toward  abolishing  the 
oath  in  the  world  is  not  to  refuse  to  take  the  oath 
when  required,  but  so  to  live  that  people  shall  de- 

E 


66      MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

cline  to  administer  it  to  them.  There  have  been 
a  few  eminent  citizens  of  our  own  country  who 
have  been  spontaneously  treated  in  this  way  in  the 
courts  of  law.  Their  unsupported  word  was  all- 
sufficient.  So  the  kingdom  when  it  comes  will 
naturally  do  away  with  oaths  and  vows.  But  it 
does  away  the  law  by  fulfilling  it.  The  truthful- 
ness which  the  oath  sought  to  insure  is  brought 
about  in  a  higher  way.  The  very  spirit  of  truth- 
fulness has  obviated  the  necessity  of  an  enforced 
truthfulness.  People  tell  the  truth  naturally,  and 
the  oath  is  out  of  place. 

A  further  illustration  of  the  influ- 
Ver,  38-42    ence  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon 

law  is  seen  in  the  transformation  of 
that  old  rule  of  criminal  procedure  that  the  one 
who   has   done  a  wrong   shall   suffer  the  kind  of 

wrong  which  he  has  done :  "  Eye 
Lev.  24  :  17-23    for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth,  hand   for 

hand,  burning  for  burning."  It 
was  the  strict  infliction  of  like  for  like  as  a  pen- 
alty for  crime.  Now  this  is  as  just  a  rule  as 
can  be  devised,  if  we  are  going  to  set  out  to 
repay  any  one  for  wrong-doing  at  all.  The  mere 
natural  sense  of  justice  would  say  such  retribution 
is  just  what  the  wrong-doer  deserves.  Our  Lord 
does  not  repudiate  this  law,  any  more  than  he  does 
any  of  the  rest.  But  he  addresses  himself  solely 
to  the  one  who  has  suffered  the  wrong;  and  he 
says,  "Do  not  insist  on  satisfaction.  Mere  justice 
would  allow  you  an  equal  retaliation  ;  but  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  in  you  will  lead  you  to  submit 
to  evil  rather  than  resist."     In  fact  the  verv  book 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW     6/ 

that  publishes  our  rule  of  retributory 
procedure,  when  addressing  the  ag-  Lev.  19  :  18 
grieved  party  commands  forbearance 
and  love.  The  higher  love  removes  all  resent- 
ment from  the  heart.  The  Christlike  man  feels 
only  compassion  for  his  brother — he  is  willing  to 
undergo  any  personal  despite  rather  than  injure 
him.  The  injunction,  "Whosoever  smiteth  thee 
on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also," 
has  always  seemed  a  hard  command  to  keep.  It 
requires  peculiar  saintliness  to  be  capable  of  such 
forbearance.  But  we  can  easily  see  that  the 
tendency  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven — that  is,  of 
the  love  of  God  in  the  heart — is  toward  just  such 
compassion  and  dignity  of  yielding.  Jesus  is  not 
teaching  us  to  be  pusillanimous ;  he  is  only  teach- 
ing us  a  higher  love,  which  never  loses  sight  of  our 
neighbor's  welfare.  Mere  personal  resentment 
shall  yield  to  this  love.  We  shall  at  least  count  it 
an  infirmity  if  we  let  our  anger  betray  us  into 
anything  that  shall  injure  even  the  man  who 
treats  us  with  violence.  High  and  wonderful  for- 
bearance this,  for  human  nature  to  attain ;  but  we 
cannot  say  it  is  an  unnatural  thing  to  set  before 
us  as  our  goal. 

Finally,  the  Saviour  sums  up  with 
the  law  of  love.     The  ancient   law    Ygr.  43.48 
was,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself."     Contenting  themselves    Lev.  19  :  18 
with  the  mere  letter,  men  restricted 
that    saying   exclusively  to    those    who    could    be 
called  neighbors  in  the  narrower  sense.      So  they 
mentally  added  to  the  law  the  converse,  "and  hate 


68      MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

thine  enemy."  But  Jesus  gives  the  law  a  much 
wider  application  than  this.  "  Love  your  enemies 
— this  is  the  duty  of  the  kingdom.  If  you  love 
only  your  neighbors  you  do  no  better  than  the 
publicans  and  the  heathen.  Let  your  pattern  in 
this  be  God  himself,  who  in  his  providence  sends 
the  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust,  and  causes 
his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good.  Aim 
indeed  to  be  perfect  in  love  as  he  is.  Your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  the  only  worthy  goal  of  your 
striving." 

This  law  of  love  is  the  principle  which  under- 
lies all  Jesus'  treatment  of  the  old  law.  It  is  the 
spirit  which  makes  our  obedience  as  members  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  different  from  that  of 
those  who  only  keep  the  letter  of  the  law.  It 
modifies  our  obedience  to  the  law  against  murder, 
against  adultery,  against  false  swearing.  It  works 
the  abolition  of  retaliation  by  raising  us  above  ex- 
acting it.  Mere  law  seeks  equal  justice  between 
men ;  the  kingdom  of  God  seeks  salvation,  the 
triumph  of  love.  The  merely  just  man  will  not 
kill ;  he  who  loves  will  use  all  means  to  be  recon- 
ciled. The  upright  man  will  avoid  adultery;  he 
who  loves  will  so  act  that  no  temptation  to  impu- 
rity shall  be  put  in  any  one's  way.  Justice  will  be 
faithful  to  oaths,  so  that  no  one  can  tax  the  juror 
with  falsity;  love  will  so  guard  against  falsifying 
the  word  that  no  oath  shall  be  called  for.  Faith- 
fulness to  men's  rights  will  never  exact  more  than 
the  "pound  of  flesh"  when  one  has  done  a  wrong, 
but  it  will  have  the  satisfaction  which  the  law 
allows.      But  love  will   forego  all  such  satisfaction. 


MORALITY  OF  ENTHUSIASM   RELATED  TO  LAW     OQ 

It  does  not  want  it.  It  wants  to  see  the  violent 
and  unjust  man  reclaimed.  It  ever  seeks,  in  true 
compassion  for  his  lost  and  wronged-hearted  con- 
dition, to  commend  to  him  a  higher  forbearance, 
that  he  may  be  won  to  a  nobler  life. 

Thus  love,  which  is  the  nature  of  God,  under- 
lies the  obedience  of  the  kingdom.  Love  trans- 
figures the  law  and  fulfills  it.  Love  makes  the 
man  do  the  same  things,  and  far  more,  from  higher 
motives ;  so  that  the  law  is  no  longer  law  for  him, 
but  the  nature  of  God  to  which  his  soul  aspires. 
Perfection  of  love  is  the  least  that  will  satisfy  the 
aspiring  member  of  God's  kingdom.  He  recog- 
nizes as  his  Father — the  supreme  one  to  whom  his 
whole  being  conforms  itself — none  other  than  the 
infinite  God,  who  is  the  infinite  love. 

Thus  upon  the  old  law,  cited  by  means  of  a  few 
vital  examples,  Jesus  puts  a  new  stamp  which 
makes  an  altogether  new  thing  of  it.  It  is  no 
longer  a  mere  law ;  for  it  no  longer  compels  an 
unwilling  subject  seeking  by  all  dialectic  ingenuity 
to  evade  its  requirements.  It  finds  the  aspiring- 
heart  so  ready  to  obey  that  its  voice  of  command 
needs  no  longer  to  make  itself  heard.  The  exter- 
nal edict  is  superseded  by  the  internal  disposition. 
The  letter  is  swallowed  up  by  the  spirit.  The 
legal  enactment  is  annihilated  by  a  trend  of  life 
far  above  it.  Thus,  though  no  longer  dreaded,  it 
is  still  more  efficiently  kept.  Truer  and  more  obe- 
dient to  it  than  the  most  pharisaical  of  Jewish  for- 
malists is  the  one  who  has  no  longer  any  thought 
of  its  precepts,  but  lives  in  the  aspiring  desire  to 
love  all  men  as  himself.     This  is  not  destroying 


70      MAGiNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

the  law,  nor  again  is  it  re-enacting  the  law;  it  is 
fulfilling  it.  The  stamp  of  perpetuity — nay,  of 
resurrection  to  newness  of  life — i:)ut  on  the  old  law 
is  the  sublime  word  of  Jesus,  "Ye  therefore  shall 
be  perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect." 


IV 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD 
IS  OF  THE  EARTH 


Matt.  6  :  1-18 


IV 

Take  heed  that  ye  do  not  your  righteousness  before  men,  to  be 
seen  of  them  :  else  ye  have  no  reward  with  your  Father  which  is 
in  heaven. 

\Vhen  therefore  thou  doest  alms,  sound  not  a  trumpet  before  thee, 
as  the  hypocrites  do  in  the  synagogues  and  in  the  streets,  that  they 
may  have  glory  of  men.  Verily  1  say  unto  you,  They  have  received 
their  reward.  But  when  thou  doest  alms,  let  not  thy  left  hand 
know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth  :  that  thine  r.lms  may  be  in  se- 
cret :  and  thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret  shall  recompense  thee. 

And  when  ye  pray,  ye  shall  not  be  as  the  hypocrites  :  for  they 
love  to  stand  and  pray  in  the  synagogues  and  in  the  corners  of 
the  streets,  that  they  may  be  seen  of  men.  Verily  I  say  unto 
you.  They  have  received  their  reward.  But  thou,  when  thou 
prayest,  enter  into  thine  inner  chamber,  and  having  shut  thy 
door,  pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret,  and  thy  Father 
which  seeth  in  secret  shall  recompense  thee.  And  in  praying 
use  not  vain  repetitions,  as  the  Gentiles  do  :  for  they  think  that 
they  shall  be  heard  for  their  much  speaking.  Be  not  therefore 
like  unto  them  :  for  your  Father  knoweth  what  things  ye  have 
need  of  before  ye  ask  him.  After  this  manner  therefore  pray  ye  : 
Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven.  Hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy 
kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth. 
Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread.  And  forgive  us  our  debts,  as 
we  also  have  forgiven  our  debtors.  And  bring  us  not  into  temp- 
tation, but  deliver  us  from  the  evil  one.  For  if  ye  forgive  men 
their  trespasses,  your  heavenly  Father  will  also  forgive  you. 
But  if  ye  forgive  not  men  their  trespasses,  neither  will  your 
Father  forgive  your  trespasses. 

Moreover  when  ye  fast,  be  not,  as  the  hypocrites,  of  a  sad 
countenance  :  for  they  disfigure  their  faces,  that  they  may  be  seen 
of  men  to  fast.  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  They  have  received  their 
reward.  But  thou,  when  thou  fastest,  anoint  thy  head  and  wash 
thy  face  ;  that  thou  be  not  seen  of  men  to  fast,  but  of  thy 
Father  which  is  in  secret  ;  and  thy  Father,  which  seeth  in  secret, 
shall  recompense  thee. 

The  general  truth  which  sums  up  this  passage 
is  found  in  the  first  verse.     This  is  a  statement  of 

73 


74   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

the  subject  of  the  whole,  and  the  rest  is  of  the 
nature  of  ilkistration  and  particular  application. 
In  that  verse  we  are  admonished  to  be  careful  and 
not  to  do  our  righteousness  before  men,  to  be 
seen  of  them.  Then,  going  on  from  that  verse, 
three  kinds  of  righteousness  are  specified,  alms, 
prayer,  and  fasting.  In  doing  alms  we  are  to 
guard  against  temptation  by  "letting  not  our  left 
hand  know  what  our  right  hand  doeth."  In 
prayer,  we  are  to  enter  into  our  inner  chamber 
and  shut  the  door,  so  that  our  request  may  be 
made  with  a  single  heart  to  the  Father  who  sees 
in  secret.  In  fasting,  we  are  to  perform  our 
usual  toilet,  and  let  ourselves  look  as  well-kept  as 
ever,  that  we  may  not  appear  unto  men  to  fast. 
These  items  of  righteousness,  as  religious  observ- 
ances, are  matters  between  ourselves  and  God. 
They  cannot  sincerely  be  done  for  the  sake  of 
human  rewards.  If  we  take  pains  to  have  men 
see  them  and  approve,  we  have  no  reward  of  our 
Father  who  is  in  heaven.  In  other  words,  such 
selfish  conduct  gains  no  acknowledgment  from 
infinite  love. 

Now  in  the  first  verse  we  find  a  statement  of 
truth  which  foreshadows  and  opens  the  way  for 
all  that  follows.  To  begin  with,  observe  the 
words,  "Take  heed."  These  words  as  used  by 
our  Lord  generally  introduce  a  prohibition  of 
some  insidious  and  hurtful  propensity  or  habit  of 
mind.  When  the  Saviour  says,  "  Take  heed,"  he 
goes  on  to  refer  to  something  that  we  are  to  be 
very  careful  against.  It  is  not  simply  some  ex- 
actly recognizable  act  that  we  can  leave  off  at  a 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH     75 

word   and   done  with   it,  but   something  which  we 
must  keep  as  far  from  as  possible,  or  we  shall  be 
doing   it   before   we  know  it.     We  are  to  guard 
against  it  by  going   as  far  as  we  can  the  other 
way.     We  are  to  conform  ourselves  to  such  per- 
sonal habits  that  the  entrance  of  the  temptation 
shall  be  impossible.     Thus  the  Saviour  bids  the 
disciples  "  take  heed,"  or  "  beware  " 
of    the    leaven    of    the    Pharisees    Luke  12  :  i 
which     is     hypocrisy.      The     thing 
thus  warned  against  is  an  insidious  habit  of  mind, 
the  habit  of  hollowness  or  insincerity.      It  is  one 
of  those  sins  which  grow  until  they  have  imper- 
ceptibly gained  entire  possession  of  the  man.      It 
is  one  of  those  things  which  the  person  does  not 
see  clearly  enough  to  avoid  in  its  first  approach, 
and  can  only  guard  against,  as  it  were,  blindly,  by 
leaning  very  strongly  to  the  opposite  side.      And 
you  remember  the  sin  of  covetousness,  which  is  a 
sin  from  which  our  Lord  tells  us  to 
take  heed  and  guard  ourselves,  was    Luke  12  :  15 
of  a  nature  to  take  such  a  hold  on 
the  rich  young   man   that  he  could    Luke  18  :  22 
be  guaranteed  a  cure  only  on  condi- 
tion of  selling  all  his  goods  and  giving  to  the  poor. 
Now  this  doing  of  our  righteousness  to  be  seen 
of  men  is  a  habit  that  is  to  be  guarded  against  in 
the  same  way.     It  is  not  so   much  a  crime  as  a 
blighting  condition  of  things  that   is  insidious  in 
its  approach,  like  hypocrisy.      In  fact  it  is  largely 
of  the  same  nature.      Our  Saviour  cannot  simply 
say,  "  Do  not  do  so,"  for  a   person    might  easily 
think    he  was   not   doing   it,   when    in    reality  his 


76      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

whole  nature  might  be  permeated  with  its  virus. 
The  Lord  must  rather  say,  "  Beware  of  doing  it  : 
be  wary,  or  on  your  guard  against  doing  it," — for 
this  word  "take  heed"  and  "beware"  are  the 
same  word.  And  by  way  of  guarding  against  a 
temptation  so  insidious  in  its  nature,  he  suggests 
what  we  might  call  disciplinary  measures.  He 
advises  us  to  let  our  righteousness  take  pains  to 
be  sedulously  removed  from  the  possibility  of 
ostentation.  He  enjoins  an  almost  fussy  and  un- 
natural effort  of  concealment.  Let  the  alms  be 
rigidly  hidden  from  view.  Let  the  prayer  be  in 
the  secret  chamber.  Let  the  fasting  take  pains 
to  cover  up  its  own  effects  on  the  person.  Thus 
we  shall  lean  as  far  as  possible  away  from  the 
temptation  to  be  ostentatious  of  our  religious 
merits.  We  shall  beware  of  doing  our  righteous- 
ness before  men  to  be  seen  of  them,  by  hiding  it 
of  set  purpose  from  men.  For  the  temptation  to 
ostentatious  goodness  is  a  temptation  which  gains 
possession  of  a  man  and,  before  he  knows  it, 
makes  him  incapable  of  living  in  eternal  truth, 
and  for  an  eternal  reward. 

Perhaps  we  do  not  appreciate  this  temptation  as 
we  might  do  if  we  lived  in  such  times  as  those  of 
Christ,  and  among  Oriental  worshipers.  And 
perhaps  we  flatter  ourselves  that  here  is  a  teach- 
ing of  the  Lord  which  applies  only  to  a  peculiar 
age  of  the  world,  or  to  a  peculiar  kind  of  people. 
We  do  not  feel  guilty  of  displaying  our  religious 
observances.  We  have  the  impulse  to  hide  them 
rather.  We  are  often  afraid  to  let  men  know  that 
we  are  pious.      We  seem  more  in  need  of  having 


RIGHTEOUSXESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH     7/ 

Daniel's  example  set  before  us,  as  he  did  his 
praying  in  Babylon,  when  praying  was  prohibited 
by  law.  He  opened  his  windows  and  exhibited 
his  devotions  three  times  a  day.  We  seem  more 
in  need  of  being  exhorted  to  "  dare  to  be  a  Dan- 
iel," than  of  being  advised  to  do  our  praying  and 
our  other  religious  duties  in  secret.  The  truth  of 
the  preceding  chapter  of  this  sermon,  that  the 
member  of  God's  kingdom  is  to  let  his  light  shine 
before  men,  so  that  they  shall  see  his  good  works, 
seems  to  be  the  truth  more  especially  needed  for 
our  Western  and  Protestant  ideas  of  religion. 
The  hiding  of  our  piety  will  take  care  of  itself. 
We  do  not  need  to  be  exhorted  to  this.  There  is 
not  much  danger  of  the  average  modern  Christian 
standing  on  the  street  corner  and  praying  in  order 
that  men  may  see  him.  Our  ideas  and  customs 
are  all  so  far  the  other  way  that  when,  for  instance, 
the  Salvation  Army  has  the  resoluteness  to  hold 
street  prayer  meetings,  we  are  inclined  to  regard 
the  action  as  unnatural  and  out  of  place  in  modern 
civilization. 

But  there  is  something  more  constant  and  uni- 
versal than  mere  ostentation  in  this  sin  of  which 
the  Saviour  tell  us  to  beware.  That  is  the  state 
of  the  heart  which  led  the  Jew  to  attribute  efificacy 
and  value  to  his  outward  piety.  It  is  indicated  in 
the  last  clause  of  this  first  verse,  "  Otherwise  ye 
have  no  reward  of  your  Father  which  is  in 
heaven."  It  is  also  indicated  in  that  sad  refrain 
which  the  Saviour  brings  in  after  every  example 
of  hypocritical  ostentation,  "Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  They  have  received  their  reward."      That  of 


78      MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

which  we  arc  to  beware,  then,  is  the  acting,  in 
spiritual  things,  for  an  immediate  and  an  earthly 
reward ;  the  letting  our  righteousness  be  meas- 
ured simply  by  what  men  think,  and  letting  its  suf- 
ficient compensation  be  that  approval  which  men, 
looking  merely  on  the  outside,  can  give.  When 
we  work  solely  for  human  approval  we  lose  the 
faculty  for  appreciating  the  approval  of  the 
heavenly  Father.  When  an  immediate  and  finite 
reward  is  all  we  seek,  we  lose  the  power  to  strive 
for  the  infinite  reward.  So  it  is  true  that  he 
whose  righteousness  is  simply  done  according  to 
the  measure  of  men's  standards,  and  only  for 
their  approval,  is  one  who  has  no  reward  of  the 
Father  which  is  in  heaven.  The  reward  which 
comes  from  the  infinite  Love  is  a  thing  that  would 
be  no  reward  to  him.  He  is  getting  his  reward 
every  day  as  he  displays  his  goodness  before  men. 
It  is  a  scanty  enough  reward,  it  is  true,  but  he 
looks  for  nothing  better,  and  this  he  can  have  im- 
mediately. W^orking  for  such  a  reward,  he  will 
naturally  be  tempted,  when  the  customs  of  society 
admit  of  it,  to  be  a  sanctimonious  displayer  of  his 
piety  on  the  streets.  But  if  piety  is  not  so  much 
the  fashion  in  the  world  with  which  he  mingles, 
he  will  nevertheless  have  the  same  leaven  of 
regard  for  the  praise  of  men  working  in  him  ;  and 
it  will  make  his  religion  and  his  righteousness  of 
the  superficial  kind,  even  if  it  does  not  stand 
literally  on  the  street  corners  to  display  itself. 

But  those  who  display  their  religion  in  order  to 
be  seen  and  approved  of  men  do  so  only  because 
religion  is,  as  it  were,  fashionable.     In  the  time  of 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH     79 

the  Pharisees  it  was  an  advantage  of  a  most  sub- 
stantial kind  to  have  the  reputation  of  being  a 
holy  man.  Men  were  greatly  impressed  when 
they  saw  a  dignified  religious  man  so  careful  and 
particular  about  his  hours  of  devotion  that  when 
the  minute  arrived  he  would  drop  everything  and 
stand  and  pray  with  great  unction  in  the  streets. 
It  showed  extraordinary  scrupulosity  about  the 
forms  of  religion.  And  seeing  it  impressed  peo- 
ple, the  thrifty  religious  man  could  easily  arrange 
it  so  that  he  should  happen  to  be  in  a  particularly 
public  and  conspicuous  place  when  the  hour  for 
praying  came  around.  Or  he  might  manage  it 
without  apparent  design  so  that  his  almsgiving 
should  be  made  very  conspicuous  ;  and  his  fasting 
could  be  allowed  to  show  its  effects  on  his  person 
with  great  distinctness.  But  all  this  was  because 
to  be  thus  religious  was  good  form.  The  same 
regard  for  the  praise  of  men  would  lead  a  man  to 
be  irreligious  when  irreligion  was  fashionable.  If 
freethinking  were  fashionable,  such  a  person  would 
be  a  freethinker.  The  same  spirit  and  habit  causes 
a  man  to  be  religious  in  religious  times,  and  irre- 
ligious in  irreligious  times. 

The  root  of  the  sin  is  the  following  of  the  meas- 
ure of  men's  opinions — the  taking  of  one's  shape 
from  his  surroundings.  It  is  the  finding  of  his 
reward  in  the  approval  of  the  crowd.  It  is  the 
looking  around  for  the  warrant  of  his  conduct, 
rather  than  within  or  above.  Sad  indeed  is  the 
judgment  which  the  Saviour  pronounces  upon 
such  action  :  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  They  have 
received  their   reward."     All   that  is  to  come  of 


80      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

such  religion  comes  immediately,  and  then  there  is 
nothing  left.  The  only  inspiration  of  such  right- 
eousness is  the  inspiration  of  popularity  ;  its  only 
warrant  and  justification  is  what  is  commonly 
deemed  success.  If  a  person  has  all  his  reward  in 
hand,  there  is  nothing  to  look  forward  to.  It  is 
sad  indeed  to  have  our  possibilities  of  good  and  of 
increase  exhausted  every  day.  It  is  hut  laying  up 
for  ourselves  the  sentence  that  was  pronounced  on 
the  rich  man  in  Hades  :  "Thou  in  thy  lifetime  re- 
ceivedst  thy  good  things  .  .  .  now 
Luke  16  :  25    thou  art  tormented." 

This  passage,  then,  is  not  simply  a 
warning  against  ostentation  in  religion,  but  it  is  a 
warning  against  habits  of  action  into  which  relig- 
ious, and  irreligious  as  well,  are  in  danger  of  falling. 
It  is  a  warning  against  living  only  to  please  men. 
It  is  a  warning  against   getting  final   satisfaction 
from   human   opinion.      "  If   I  were  still   pleasing 
men,"  says  Paul,  "  I  should  not  be 
Gal.  I  :  10    a  servant  of  Christ."     The  admoni- 
tion, "Take  heed  that  ye  do  not  your 
righteousness  before  men,  to  be   seen   of  them," 
is  moreover  perfectly  consistent  with  the  converse 
exhortation,  "  Even  so  let  your  light  shine  before 
men,  that  they  may  see  your  good 
Matt.  5  :  16    works,  and  glorify  your  Father  which 
is  in  heaven."      In  the  one  case  we 
rejoice  to  have  men  won  to  God  by  our  true  living; 
in  the  other  case  we  are  careful  not  to  narrow  our 
true  living  to  what  we  presume  men  will  approve. 
In  the  one  case,  we  are  to  serve  God  with  an  in- 
trepid allegiance  for  men's  sake,  even  though  per- 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH    8  I 

sedition  and  all  hardship  should  labor  to  quench 
our  light ;  in  the  other  case,  we  are  to  see  to  it 
that  it  is  God  whom  we  serve,  and  God's  reward 
which  we  gain,  whether  men  are  likely  to  approve 
or  not. 

In  our  earthly  condition  we  need  some  exhilara- 
tion, some  stimulus,  some  sense  of  approval,  as  our 
incentive  to  righteousness.  I  know  that  ideally 
holiness  is  just  the  acting  out  of  a  holy  nature; 
that  any  course  of  right  action  which  is  engaged  in 
for  a  reward  or  inducement  is  short  of  the  perfect 
righteousness.  He  who  is  truly  holy,  we  say,  is  so 
because  it  is  his  nature  to  be  so ;  he  does  not  need 
to  be  induced  to  be  holy.  Any  dependence  on  in- 
ducements is  looked  upon  as  more  or  less  selfish 
and  sordid.  Any  holding  out  of  inducements  may 
be  argued  to  be  a  corruption  of  the  person  who  is 
thus  led  into  a  right  choice.  Yet  as  a  matter  of 
fact  we  are  mostly  too  imperfect  to  be  entirely 
capable  of  such  unselfish  goodness.  The  most  of 
us  are  unable  to  work  independently  of  any  re- 
ward, or  any  sense  of  approval.  Something  must 
strengthen  us  in  the  sense  that  we  are  right  ; 
something  must  hold  our  languid  faith  and  alle- 
giance true  to  its  aim.  So  the  talk  about  entirely 
disinterested  and  unrewarded  goodness  is  some- 
what impracticable.  It  is  adapted  to  an  ideal 
world,  rather  than  to  the  world  of  average  men 
and  women  as  we  find  them.  We  should,  indeed, 
hold  up  such  goodness  as  our  ideal  to  be  striven 
after.  The  man  cannot  be  counted  perfect  who 
works  consciously  for  a  reward.  Nor  can  the  man 
be  counted  perfectly  holy  who  has  to  strive  and 


82   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

incite  himself  to  goodness.  Such  goodness  is  vir- 
tue rather  than  holiness.  Virtue  is  that  goodness 
which  a  man  achieves,  even  though  some  part  of 
his  nature  wars  against  it  and  has  to  be  put  down  ; 
holiness,  on  the  other  hand,  is  that  goodness  which 
is  purely  spontaneous  and  according  to  the  renewed 
spiritual  nature.  A  man  cannot  be  counted  holy 
until  it  is  his  nature  to  be  good.  And  such  holi- 
ness we  should  indeed  hold  up  as  our  standard.  It 
is  the  mark  of  our  power  to  appreciate  the  glory  of 
a  higher  world  than  ours  that  we  are  not  content 
to  accept  anything  short  of  this  as  perfect.  Yet 
to  recommend  striving  after  that  goal  is  quite  a 
different  thing  from  denying  to  men  any  incentive 
to  goodness  if  they  need  it.  If  men  need  incentive, 
stimulus,  exhilarating  sense  of  approval,  as  indeed 
we  all  do,  let  them  have  the  highest  incentives. 
Do  not  put  them,  as  it  were,  in  a  vacuum,  and  say, 
"You  shall  labor  without  reward  or  not  at  all. 
Because  to  be  entirely  disinterested  is  the  only 
final  perfection,  you  are  corrupting  yourself  by 
looking  for  any  inducement."  Such  a  course  would 
cut  off  almost  everybody  from  right  living.  The 
fact  is,  this  sluggish  human  nature  needs  some 
stimulus  in  spiritual  things.  There  is  a  reward  to 
be  held  before  the  faithful  one,  and  it  does  not  in- 
terfere with  a  very  hopeful  degree  of  goodness  to 
be  encouraged  by  the  prospects  and  foregleaming 
joys  of  a  heavenly  world. 

So  Jesus  is  not  impracticable  enough  to  divest 
righteousness  of  all  hope  of  reward.  He  holds  up 
the  highest  rewards  as  our  goal.  Those  rewards 
are  of  such  a  nature  that  as  the  man  rises  in  the 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH    83 

spiritual  life  and  comes  to  appreciate  them,  they 
mean  for  him  higher  and  more  unselfish  things  ; 
and  the  following  after  them  becomes  less  and  less 
a  subserviency  to  inducements.  The  person  finds 
at  last  that  his  heavenly  reward  is  the  possession 
itself  of  that  holiness  which  cannot  perfect  itself 
as  mere  rewarded  conduct.  The  looking  for  a  high 
reward  is  a  stimulation  for  the  time  being  which 
presently  strengthens  the  person  to  get  on  without 
stimulation.  It  is  the  saving  feature  in  Christi- 
anity, that  it  reaches  down  to  people  as  they  are  ; 
it  wins  them  as  they  can  be  won.  It  does  not 
stand  coldly  at  one  side  and  propose  an  impracti- 
cable scheme  of  righteousness  which  sinful  and 
sluggish  human  nature  cannot  embrace.  It  re- 
wards because  we  need  the  help  of  rewards.  It 
not  only  points  out  a  high  goal,  but  it  helps  ordi- 
nary men  to  enter  the  race  for  it. 

Those  who  would  improve  on  Christianity  by 
teaching  mankind  something  less  selfish  have  been 
in  fault  just  here.  They  have  for  their  own  part 
proposed  a  morality  which  was  ideally  pure,  but 
too  elevated  and  rarefied  for  the  earthly  man  to 
possess.  The  flaws  which  they  seemed  to  discover 
in  Christianity  were  just  those  features  which  made 
Christianity  saving.  They  themselves  have  sub- 
limed righteousness  until  it  appeared  faultless  in 
theory,  but  this  was  at  the  expense  of  winning  and 
saving  power.  The  average  man  is  left  entirely 
unreached  and  unhelped. 

It  is  true,  then,  that  we  need  some  reward,  some 
sense  of  approval,  to  keep  us  in  courses  of  right 
action.     Few  of  us  would  enter  on  lives  of  self- 


84   MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

denial  and  renunciation  of  pleasure  if  there  were 
nothing  at  all  to  be  gained  by  it.  Hardship  is  not 
endured  for  its  own  sake.  Discipline  of  the  un- 
ruly animal  powers  is  not  resorted  to  just  for  the 
sake  of  making  life's  pleasures  less.  There  is,  in 
the  mind  of  the  person,  something  to  be  gained  by 
a  virtuous  course,  if  it  is  nothing  more  than  tiie 
satisfaction  of  having  overcome  himself.  And  this 
very  sense  of  overcoming  himself  is  valueless  for 
him  unless  there  is  the  feeling  that  to  overcome 
himself  makes  him  better,  more  worthy,  more  fit 
for  his  own  approval,  more  in  the  way  of  some 
great  reward.  Whatever  the  far-off  ideal  of  good- 
ness may  be,  the  only  attainable  human  goodness 
is  stimulated  and  induced  by  some  sense  of  ap- 
proval, some  kind  of  reward. 

Now  there  is  a  kind  of  reward  that  a  person  may 
have  immediately,  and  that  is  earthly  reputation. 
I  do  not  say  that  the  simple,  humble  traits  which 
the  Saviour  recommended  as  bringing  blessedness 
will  always  give  it.  He  who  is  poor  in  spirit,  who 
mourns,  who  hungers  after  righteousness,  who  is 
pure  and  single  of  heart,  may  not  always  find  an 
immediate  human  appreciation.  He  at  least  does 
not  work  for  it,  for  those  traits  do  not  admit  of 
such  a  thing.  But  he  who  is  liberal  in  alms,  as- 
siduous in  public  prayer,  unsparing  of  self  in  his 
fasting  and  afiRiction  of  soul,  may  easily  get  a  repu- 
tation for  sanctity.  Such  virtues  admit  of  ostenta- 
tion ;  they  may  easily  flourish  on  a  false  motive. 
Now  to  have  the  feeling  that  men  regard  you  as 
righteous  is  a  reward.  It  furnishes  a  stimulus  to 
action.      It  exhilarates  the  person,  and  makes  him 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH    85 

feel  good.  But  the  opinion  of  men  often  makes 
him  feel  good  when  he  does  not  consider  whether 
he  deserves  it.  He  does  not  look  into  his  own 
heart;  he  believes  himself  good  just  because  other 
people  believe  him  good.  They  have  awarded  him 
the  palm  of  goodness  until  he  is  cheated  into 
making  that  a  sufficient  reward.  What  they  have 
seen  on  the  outside  is  all  he  counts  into  his  good- 
ness. This  very  felicitating  one's  self  on  men's 
opinions  thus  makes  the  person  incapable  of  an 
eternal  reward.  He  does  not  look  deep  enough 
for  it. 

But  how  flat  and  tame  such  a  human  reward  is  ! 
What  inspiration  is  there  in  it  ?  What  is  there  in  it 
that  can  fire  a  man's  soul  ?  When  a  certain  type  of 
virtue  is  in  vogue,  be  that.  When  another  fashion 
comes  around,  be  up  in  that.  Look  around  you 
and  keep  the  run  of  things  ;  observe  narrowly  the 
drift  of  opinion  so  as  to  trim  your  sails  to  it,  for  in 
popularity  is  your  only  reward.  Adopt  as  your 
motto,  "  Nothing  succeeds  like  success."  Wor- 
ship success  ;  she  will  give  you  a  kind  of  reward. 
Never  ask  whether  God  will  approve,  or  whether 
your  deepest  inward  self  is  satisfied  ;  simply  regu- 
late all  by  the  question.  Will  it  succeed  .-•  There 
is  a  reward  in  store  for  you,  and  you  may  have  it 
at  once,  even  while  you  are  standing  on  the  street- 
corner.  It  is  a  reward  that  may  satisfy  for  a  time. 
But  it  is  a  reward  that  in  the  time  of  trial  will 
utterly  fail.  Can  you  wonder  then  at  the  infinite 
sadness  of  the  Saviour's  tone  when  he  says  of  such 
seekers  :  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  They  have  re- 
ceived their  reward." 


86      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

In  regard  to  almsgivine:  and  fast- 
mail,  d:  i-^;    j,^g  Jesus   simply   cautions    against 

making  a  show  of  them  ;  and  the 
disciplinary  antidote  is  to  make  them  as  secret  as 

possible.     But  in  regard  to  prayer 
Ver.  5-8    there  is  another  false  reward  which 

people  sometimes  seek.  The  one 
to  which  the  Saviour  has  already  referred  is  the 
mistake,  or  worse,  of  praying  for  men  to  see  ;  as 
if  asking  something  from  God  were  a  meritorious 
action  worthy  of  a  reward,  and  fitted  to  give  one  a 
reputation  for  sanctity.  What  an  entire  denial  of 
the  nature  of  prayer !  To  think  that  the  asking 
for  something,  the  desiring  of  something  from  the 
heavenly  Father,  is  an  action  for  which  to  arrogate 
to  one's  self  merit.  So  thought  of  it  indeed  ceases 
to  be  prayer  to  God.  It  becomes  not  a  sincere 
asking  for  something  but  a  displaying  of  some- 
thing. It  has  its  reward  ;  it  is  seen.  That  is  all 
it  wants. 

But    the    other    false    reward    of 
Ver.  7,  8    which  the  Saviour  speaks  comes  of 

making  such  a  hardship  of  prayer 
that  the  person  persuades  himself  by  his  own  weari- 
ness that  he  has  merited  an  answer.  There  is  a 
sort  of  reward  or  self-approval  in  having  done  so 
much  praying — being  able  to  foot  up  such  and 
such  a  sum  of  petitions  of  which  one  may  keep 
tally.  It  is  the  idea  of  w^orship  whose  outward 
mark  is  the  rosary.  Surely  God  must  be  nearer 
to  answering  if  the  person  has  said  it  over  fifty 
times  than  if  he  has  said  it  only  once.  He  must 
be  admiringly  sensible  how  persevering  a  service 


RIGHTEOUSiNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH    87 

we  are  making  of  it.  Our  much  speaking  cer- 
tainl}'  must  merit  some  consideration.  Here  again 
is  a  false  reward  which  one  may  have  immediately. 
It  consists  in  the  knowledge  that  we  have  prayed 
so  many  times,  and  to  get  that,  one  only  needs  to 
pray  that  many  times  and  keep  account.  His 
rosary  is  his  spiritual  measure. 

All  this  indicates  a  false  ideal  of  prayer  which 
makes  it  necessary  that  the  Saviour  should  pro- 
pose the  true  model.  One  makes  prayer  a  thing 
which  so  glorifies  the  offerer  that  it  may  be  dis- 
played and  get  him  a  reputation.  Another  makes 
it  a  thing  which  can  gain  consideration  by  its 
laboriousness.  And  all  the  time  the  God  who 
sees  in  secret  answers  the  real  wish  of  the  heart, 
and  in  truth  knows  what  things  we  have  need  of 
before  we  ask  him.  Indeed,  our  praying  is  not 
bringing  things  to  his  consideration  which  he  had 
not  thought  of  before.  Prayer  deals  with  a  God 
who  is  unchangeable  holiness  and  love.  Its  truest 
object  is  attained  when  we  are  brought  up  nearer 
to  him.  It  would  not  be  for  our  interest  that  his 
infinite  goodness  should  be  modified  to  conform  to 
our  wishes.  But  it  is  altogether  for  our  interest  that 
we  should  be  brought  to  conform  to  his  nature. 
This  is  the  consummation  of  all  human  excellence 
to  which  we  should  most  fervently  look  forward. 
We  show  ourselves  children  of  the  heavenly  Father 
by  wishing  that  his  goodness  may  be  all  in  all. 

And  so  that  inimitable  model  of 
prayer  which  our  Lord  gives  strikes    Ver.  9-15 
this  true  keynote,  and  corrects  the 
false  conceptions  of  prayer.      It  is  simply  a  picture 


05      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

of  how  the  child  of  God  should  aspire. 
Ver.  9,  10    Its  first  wish  is  that  God's  name  may 
be  glorified,  hallowed,  felt  to  be  holy, 
and  that  his  kingdom  may  come,  and  his  will  be 
done   in   earth   as  it   is   in   heaven.     This  is   the 
heavenward  aspiration  of  the  child 
Ver.  11    of    God.     Then   in   one   brief  peti- 
tion the  legitimate  earthly  needs  of 
God's  children  are  laid  before  him.      It  is  no  ex- 
travagant demand,  no  longing  for  miraculous  suc- 
cors, or  for  any  command  of  abnormal  resources 
for  the  life.      It  is  simj^ly,  "  Give  us 
Ver.  12, 13    what  we   need  for   to-day."     Then 
comes  the  thought  of  those  things 
in  ourselves  which  hinder  God's  will  from  a  com- 
plete ascendency  in  us,  our  sins  and  our  liability 
to  temptation.      We  pray  that  our  sins  may  be  for- 
given, and  that  temptation  may  be  averted  and  we 
delivered  from  the  power  of  the  evil  one.      So  the 
prayer   simply    divides    itself  into  this   three-fold 
form — our  goal  or  final  wish,  our  earthly  condition 
as  we  seek  that  goal,  our  hindrances  in  the  striv- 
ing.    All   sums  itself  up   in   the  wish  that  God 
may  be  supreme  in  us,  that  our  wish  may  prevail, 
not  as  distinctively  ours,  but  as  taken  up  into  union 
with  his  will.      The  prayer  is  not  a  striving  for  the 
victory  of  ourselves,  but  for  the  victory  of  God  in 
us.     Thus  offered  it  does  not  admit  of  ostentation, 
of  merit  by  repetition,  of  anything  that  exalts  the 
self.     It  is  the  pure  aspiration  of  that  soul  which 
wants  God  to  rule  it. 

In  all  the  foregoing  discussion  of  the  principles 
which  govern  the   act  of   worship  we  have   been 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH    89 

contemplating  the  worshiper  as  an  individual  and 
his  sinful  debasing  of  the  performance  as  a  per- 
sonal act  of  ostentation  or  merit-seeking  before 
men  or  God.  It  remains  for  us  to  note  the  appli- 
cation of  our  Lord's  words  to  sincerity  in  public 
worship.  Absolute  sincerity  in  public  worship  is 
so  difficult  a  thing  to  keep  from  degeneration  that 
it  must  continually  be  labored  for  and  repeatedly 
regained.  It  seems  difificult  to  make  it  stay  in 
position.  A  recurrence  to  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple which  underlies  all  supplication  will  reveal 
the  secret  of  this  unstable  equilibrium  and  indicate 
the  definite  feeling  which  is  essential  to  a  sincere 
collective  approaching  of  the  throne  of  grace. 

The  act  of  worship  is  so  simple  in  its  nature, 
and  so  exclusively  single  in  its  aim,  that  any  ad- 
mixture of  other  acts  and  motives  necessarily 
debases  it.  It  is  essentially  a  transaction  between 
the  soul  and  God  alone.  It  is  simply  the  act  of 
wishful  homage  to  the  infinite  Father.  Jesus  indi- 
cated its  essentially  priv^ate  nature  when  he  recom- 
mended the  worshiper  to  enter  into  his  inner 
chamber  and  shut  the  door,  so  as  to  exclude  all 
external  influences  and  distractions.  We  have 
seen  that  while  he  describes  some  phases  or  activi- 
ties of  Christian  character  as  intended  to  be  pur- 
posely exhibited  for  the  sake  of  their  influence,  he 
places  almsgiving  and  fasting  and  prayer  in  an 
entirely  different  category.  He  seems  to  counsel 
even  a  painstaking  concealment  of  these  acts  from 
men,  lest  the  consciousness  of  spectators  should 
debase  their  motive  and  so  destroy  their  value. 

The  difflculty  of  keeping  public  worship  from 


90      MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

degeneration  arises  from  the  antagonism  between 
the  attribute  of  publicity  and  the  nature  of  worship 
itself.  At  first  sight,  the  words  of  Christ  seem  to 
deny  the  possibility  of  a  public  performance  of  real 
devotion.  If  the  soul  is  transacting  business  with 
God  alone,  any  additional  reference  to  the  specta- 
tor but  divides  its  allegiance,  and  so  destroys  the 
singleness  of  the  act.  Just  as  almsgiving  is  simply 
and  solely  in  order  to  relieve  distress,  and  cannot 
be  sincere  when  it  introduces  the  motive  of  ex- 
hibiting itself,  so  prayer  directs  the  whole  energy 
of  the  requesting  soul  toward  God  and  loses  its 
sincerity  when  it  adds  to  its  aim  any  purpose  of 
display. 

If,  then,  publicity  necessarily  introduced  a  double 
reference  of  the  act, — toward  God  and  toward  the 
spectator, — it  would  inevitably  have  a  debasing 
influence  on  the  worship  which  it  is  intended  to 
broaden.  And  though,  on  the  other  hand,  such 
double  reference  is  not  necessary,  yet  nevertheless 
the  nice  adjustment  of  the  divergent  ideas  of  pub- 
licity and  supplication  may  well  be  expected  to 
maintain  itself  precariously,  and  so  render  sincerity 
in  public  worship  a  subject  for  ever-renewed  re- 
forms and  reinstatements. 

The  collective  participation  by  which  worship  is 
made  a  public  act  may  be  secured  in  two  ways,  and 
each  causes  its  peculiar  dangers  to  sincerity.  In  the 
one  method  the  leader  and  the  participants  stand  in 
the  relation  of  speaker  and  audience.  The  leader 
utters,  or,  if  he  is  a  chorister,  sings  the  words  of 
prayer,  and  the  worshipers  participate  by  listening. 
This  method  is  necessary  when  the  worship  is  ex- 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD   IS  OF  EARTH    9 1 

temporaneous  in  its  form,  or  when,  as  in  the  case  of 
ornate  musical  worship,  the  performance  is  too 
highly  artistic  to  be  conducted  collectively  by  the 
general  audience.  The  danger  to  sincerity  accom- 
panying this  method  is  obviously  that  of  making  the 
audience  the  object  of  the  act  and  the  dispenser  of 
its  reward.  The  worshipers  have  degenerated  into 
enjoyers  or  critics,  and  the  leader  is  satisfied  if  he 
has  made  a  good  impression  ;  or  with  more  praise- 
worthy but  not  less  perverted  aims,  he  has  made 
them  the  object  of  didactic  effort  and  the  sole  indi- 
cators of  his  success.  The  publicity  has  entirely 
swamped  the  supplication.  It  is  no  longer  an  act 
of  worship,  it  is  a  performance  before  spectators. 
In  its  motive  it  comes  squarely  under  the  con- 
demnation of  the  Saviour,  who  said  :  "  And  when 
ye  pray,  ye  shall  not  be  as  the  hypocrites  :  for  they 
love  to  stand  and  pray,  .  .  that  they  may  be 
seen  of  men." 

In  the  case  of  extemporaneous  prayer,  the  con- 
sciousness of  God  and  of  the  spectator,  carried 
together  in  the  mind,  may  destroy  sincerity  by 
intruding  motives  which  are  praiseworthy  in  their 
place,  but  destructive  to  singleness  of  aim.  Not 
all  adulteration  is  so  bad  as  that  vanity  of  sanctity 
with  which  the  Pharisees  debased  their  worship  ; 
but,  nevertheless,  much  public  prayer  which  escapes 
the  charge  of  hypocrisy  may  be  insincere  and  per- 
verted in  its  purpose.  The  didactic  spirit  often 
enters  in  to  divide  the  earnest  mind,  and  the  leader 
is  found  praying  to  his  audience  instead  of  to  God. 
Revival  prayers  are  sometimes  palpably  intended, 
not  to  be  heard  by  God,  but  to  be  overheard  by 


92      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OK    GOD 

sinners.  Such  practice  is  often  called  praying  "at" 
people.  Its  perverted  character  is  made  amusingly 
distinct  in  that  anecdote  of  the  good  Christian 
brother  in  whom  the  spirit  of  exhortation  wrought 
so  strongly  as  to  make  him  frequently  tedious,  and 
who,  on  being  headed  off  at  the  point  of  rising  to 
exhort  by  the  pastor's  request  to  lead  in  prayer, 
replied :  "  I  was  about  to  make  a  few  remarks,  but 
perhaps  I  can  throw  them  into  the  form  of  a 
prayer."  Prayer  which  is  in  its  form  a  talking  to 
God,  but  in  its  spirit  a  talking  to  men,  may  be  of 
some  value  as  exhortation,  but  it  is  not  sincere 
worship. 

The  oratorical  feeling  too  often  enters  into  the 
heart  of  the  leader,  and  constitutes  a  debasement 
some  shades  less  excusable  than  the  impulse  to 
teach.  Here  even  the  benevolent  intention  of 
benefiting  the  hearer  by  the  proclamation  of  truth 
is  absent,  and  the  praying  becomes  purely  a  dis- 
play of  talent  or  a  fine  art.  The  secular  reporter 
who  characterized  such  an  effort,  on  one  occasion, 
as  the  most  eloquent  prayer  ever  offered  to  a  Bos- 
ton audience,  blundered,  in  his  pagan  appreciative- 
ness,  upon  the  probable  truth,  that  the  act  was  in 
its  spirit  directed  to  spectators,  rather  than  to  the 
Hearer  of  prayer. 

As  to  concerted  worship  offered  by  trained  mu- 
sicians, it  needs  hardly  to  be  said  that  when  the 
motive  on  their  part  is  simply  to  please  the  ear, 
and  that  of  the  audience  only  to  be  entertained, 
the  performance  is  in  no  sense  worship,  but  simply 
a  refined  amusement  whose  proper  place  is  the 
concert  room.     Nothing  is  here  urged  as  to  the 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD   IS  OF  EARTH    93 

sin  of  such  a  performance  except  its  obvious  in- 
sincerity and  hypocrisy  in  pretending  to  be  the 
worship  of  God.  It  may  be  innocent,  and  even 
beneficial,  in  its  place.  But  the  verdict  to  be  pro- 
nounced on  such  worshipers,  as  well  as  on  the 
man  who  makes  his  praying  an  oratorical  display, 
is  only  the  sorrowful  sentence  which  the  Saviour 
gave  to  the  hypocrites:  "They  have  received  their 
reward." 

Such  are  the  perils  to  sincerity  when  the  leader 
and  the  participants  are  related  as  speaker  and  au- 
dience. But  these  evils  are  by  no  means  inevitable. 
There  may  be  just  as  sincere  worship  where  one 
man  does  all  the  speaking,  or  even  where  partici- 
pation is  by  listening  to  the  most  artistic  musical 
performance,  as  where  all  are  joining"  in  a  concerted 
utterance.  But  the  relation  of  leader  and  partici- 
pants must  be  rightly  apprehended.  He  is  not 
addressing  them  ;  he,  along  with  them,  is  address- 
ing God.  There  is  a  symbolical  appropriateness  in 
the  attitude  of  the  priest,  in  Romish  and  Episcopal 
churches,  who  turns  his  back  to  the  audience  to 
pray.  In  the  intent  of  his  act  he  does  not  face  his 
flock ;  he  faces  the  same  way,  only  ahead  of  them 
as  their  leader. 

Indeed,  the  term  "  public  worship "  is  not  the 
most  exact  possible ;  the  true  act  is  rather  social 
worship.  All  are  together  in  one  mind  and  one 
religious  desire.  For  those  who  formulate  their 
wishes  with  difficulty  the  praying  becomes  even 
more  spontaneous  and  uplifting  by  being  conducted 
in  their  hearing  and  for  their  assent,  and  it  is  pos- 
sible so  to  sweep  along  the  spirit  of  the  audience 


94      MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

by  the  powerful  \vin<;ed  words  of  a  divinely  indited 
prayer  that  all  shall  be  sincere  participants  in  one 
unison  of  holy  desire  before  the  throne  of  grace; 
and  thus  are  fulfilled  the  conditions  of  the  Saviour's 
promise  that  where  the  two  parties  are  agreed  as 
touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be 
done  for  them  by  the  Father  in  heaven.  Nor  is 
such  a  conception  of  concerted  worship  a  contra- 
diction of  the  principle  that  sincere  supplication  is 
in  its  nature  a  private  act,  since  leader  and  led  are 
so  at  unity,  and  so  isolated  is  each  worshiper  from 
all  thought  of  extraneous  observation,  that  their  act 
is  the  act  of  one  collective  person,  and  thus,  if  we 
may  so  say,  collectively  secret.  Offered  in  public 
the  act  may  essentially  be  as  if  the  doer  were  alone. 

The  second  way  of  securing  collective  participa- 
tion in  worship  is  by  a  conventional  form  in  which 
all  may  audibly  take  part ;  and  the  danger  besetting 
its  sincerity  is  such  as  arises  from  the  idolatry  of 
form.  A  ritual  or  ceremonial  feeling  may  some- 
times intrude  itself,  and  the  na'ivc  sincerity  of  the 
worship  may  be  debased  by  the  motive  of  perform- 
ing the  sacred  mystery  as  a  meritorious  thing  in 
itself.  Such  worship  transgresses  the  Saviour's 
second  caution  with  regard  to  prayer :  "  Use  not 
vain  repetitions  as  the  Gentiles  do :  for  they  think 
that  they  shall  be  heard  for  their  much  speaking." 
The  worshiper  is  no  longer  directing  a  sincere  de- 
sire to  the  God  who  seeth  in  secret,  but  rather  is 
aiming  to  please  the  infinite  Father  by  an  orderly 
performance  of  external  ceremonies. 

Public  worship  had  fallen  under  this  blight  when 
the  Saviour  uttered  the  words  :  "  God  is  a  Spirit  : 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH    95 

and    they   that    worship   him    must 
worship    in    spirit    and    truth,"    or    John  4  :  24 
sincerity.     The  woman  of  Samaria 
seemed  to  have  Httle  interest  in  the  coming  Mes- 
siah except  that  he  might  answer  for  her  the  ques- 
tion, whether  men  ought  to  worship  in  that  mount- 
ain or  at  Jerusalem.     Jesus  rescued  public  worship, 
not  only  from  all  restriction  to  sacred  places,  but 
also   from   all    necessary   connection   with    sacred 
forms,  by  his  divine  watchword,  "  Neither  in  this 
mountain,  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem,  but  in  spirit  and 
truth." 

If  sincere  worship  is  possible  by  means  of  mu- 
sical concert  of  action,  it  is  also  possible  with  a 
prescribed  form  of  prayer.  The  rescue  of  imper- 
iled sincerity  from  the  lifelessness  of  form  is  not 
necessarily  by  formlessness,  nor  by  an  extempora- 
neous shaping  of  the  prayer  at  the  moment  of  de- 
livery. There  is  no  more  virtue  in  a  prayer  com- 
posed on  the  spot,  and  participated  in  by  listeners, 
than  in  a  time-honored  written  form  of  supplica- 
tion. Jesus  Christ  himself  gave  a  form  of  prayer ; 
and  this  inimitable  epitome  of  godly  aspiration,  as 
also  indeed  many  of  the  hymns  of  the  church,  may 
often  carry  the  soul  to  God  as  efficiently  as  even 
secret  prayer  burdened  with  the  effort  of  outward 
expression.  It  is  only  when  the  form  becomes  so 
exacting  as  to  be  itself  an  object  to  the  worshiper, 
claiming  allegiance  to  itself  alongside  of  God,  that 
it  destroys  the  singleness  and  value  of  the  act  of 
worship. 

The  sole  and  sufficient  safeguard  for  the  sin- 
cerity of  collective  worship  is  that  in  its  motive  it 


96      MAGNA    CllARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

shall  be  only  secret  worship  enlarged  ;  so  that 
whether  listening  in  the  great  congregation  to  the 
voice  of  an  inspiring  leader,  and  participating  in  his 
holy  fervor,  or  joining  audibly  in  some  form  of  ex- 
pression which  is  prescribed  in  order  to  facilitate 
concert  of  utterance,  the  worshiper  shall  in  spirit 
enter  into  his  closet,  and,  having  shut  the  door, 
pray  to  his  Father  who  is  in  secret,  that  the 
Father  who  seeth  in  secret  may  be  his  sole  re- 
warder. 

In  all  this  discussion  we  are  made  to  see  what  a 
contrast  there  is  between  earthly  rewards  and  the 
reward  which  comes  from  the  heavenly  Father. 
The  mere  earthly  reward  may  be  accorded  to  ap- 
pearances ;  the  divine  reward  can  come  only  from 
the  knowledge  of  what  we  really  are  before  infinite 
purity.  The  righteousness  which  seeks  an  earthly 
reward  may  be  paraded  ;  that  which  thirsts  after 
God's  approval  makes  no  bid  for  human  praise. 
One  is  the  righteousness  of  observance  ;  the  other 
is  the  righteousness  of  perfection.  One  is  suffi- 
ciently rewarded  when  it  has  transacted  itself  ac- 
cording to  a  finite  standard,  and  been  observed.  It 
may  be  judged  by  men  ;  it  may  be  computed  and 
summed  up.  It  has  merited  so  much  reputation 
for  sanctity  ;  it  has  been  done  over  so  many  times 
and  calls  for  proportionate  consideration  from  God. 
The  other  is  the  righteousness  which  labors  after 
the  infinite.  "Be  ye  therefore  perfect,"  is  its  goal 
and  constant  inspiration.  The  man  never  fully 
possesses  his  desire  on  the  earth  ;  he  hungers  and 
thirsts  after  it.  He  never  thinks  of  displaying  his 
righteousness,  for  there  is  so  much   remaining  to 


RIGHTEOUSNESS  WHOSE  REWARD  IS  OF  EARTH    9/ 

complete  his  ideal  that  he  has  no  disposition  to 
boast.  He  looks  forward  with  infinite  longing  and 
discontent  to  fill  up  the  sum  of  goodness,  rather 
than  backward  to  keep  a  careful  tally  of  his  mer- 
itorious deeds.  Thus  the  true  man  gets  his  ap- 
proval from  the  heavenly  Father,  the  infinite  Love. 
His  reward  is  laid  up  in  heaven. 


V 

THE  HEAVENLY  TREASURE 


Matt.  6  :  19-34 


V 


Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  the  earth,  where 
moth  and  rust  doth  consume,  and  where  thieves  break  through 
and  steal  :  but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  where 
neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  consume,  and  where  thieves  do  not 
break  through  nor  steal  :  for  where  thy  treasure  is,  there  will  thy 
heart  be  also.  The  lamp  of  the  body  is  the  eye  :  if  therefore  thine 
eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light.  But  if  thine 
eye  be  evil,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  darkness.  If  therefore 
the  light  that  is  in  thee  be  darkness,  how  great  is  the  darkness  ! 
No  man  can  serve  two  masters  :  for  either  he  will  hate  the  one, 
and  love  the  other  ;  or  else  he  will  hold  to  one,  and  despise  the 
other.  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon.  Therefore  I  say 
unto  you.  Be  not  anxious  for  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what 
ye  shall  drink  ;  nor  yet  for  your  body,  what  ye  shall  put  on.  Is 
not  the  life  more  than  the  food,  and  the  body  than  the  raiment  ? 
Behold  the  birds  of  the  heaven,  that  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they 
reap,  nor  gather  into  barns  ;  and  your  heavenly  Father  feedeth 
them.  Are  ye  not  of  much  more  value  than  they?  And  which 
of  you  by  being  anxious  can  add  one  cubit  unto  his  stature  ?  And 
why  are  ye  anxious  concerning  raiment  ?  Consider  the  lilies  of 
the  field,  how  they  grow  ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin  :  yet 
I  say  unto  you,  that  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed 
like  one  of  these.  But  if  God  doth  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field, 
which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall  he  not 
much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith?  Be  not  therefore 
anxious,  saying.  What  shall  we  eat  ?  or.  What  shall  we  drink  ?  or. 
Wherewithal  shall  we.  be  clothed  ?  For  after  all  these  things  do 
the  Gentiles  seek  ;  for  your  heavenly  Father  knoweth  that  ye  have 
need  of  all  these  things.  But  seek  ye  first  his  kingdom,  and  his 
righteousness  ;  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.  Be 
not  therefore  anxious  for  the  morrow  :  for  the  morrow  will  be 
anxious  for  itself.     Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof. 

By  a  natural  sequence  we  pass  from  the  melan- 
choly spectacle  of  those  who  have  "received  their 
reward"  to  the  consideration  of    the  nature  and 


I02  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

place  of  the  real  treasure.  To  lay  up  a  treasure 
is  to  make  some  possession  or  attainment  one's 
highest  wish.  It  is  the  seeking,  striving,  aspiring 
side  of  human  nature  to  which  Jesus  appeals.  The 
standpoint  of  the  Beatitudes  is  that  from  which  all 
this  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  uttered  :  man  is 
everywhere  looked  upon  as  seeking  his  own  bless- 
edness, and  the  Saviour's  moral  teaching  makes 
its  appeal  accordingly.  Not  the  fearing  or  hating 
man,  but  the  loving  and  desiring  man  is  primarily 
subjected  to  the  influence  here  exerted.  Jesus 
knows  that  when  he  has  the  desires  and  the  long- 
ings he  has  the  man.  The  real  wish  is  the  man. 
Let  one  but  catch  sight  of  his  own  blessedness, 
and  be  awakened  to  the  pursuit  of  it,  and  he  is  in 
the  way  of  spiritual  renewal. 

We  recognize  what  the  treasure  spoken  of  is  ; 
it  is  the  kingdom  of  God.  When 
Ver,  33  the  Teacher  says,  "  Seek  first  his 
kingdom  and  his  righteousness,"  he 
is  reiterating  in  other  words  the  same  advice  with 
which  he  here  sets  out,  "  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  on  the  earth  .  .  .  but  lay  up  for  your- 
selves treasures  in  heaven."  Describing  it  as  a 
treasure  located  in  heaven  defines  more  closely  the 
nature  of  that  kingdom.  So  great  an  idea  as  the 
kingdom  of  God  cannot  be  defined  in  a  single 
word.  Parable  after  parable  in  the  Saviour's 
teaching  is  put  forth  to  show  what  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  like.  The  very  word  "  kingdom  "  is 
subject  to  erroneous  apprehension.  Briefly,  it 
means  the  reign  of  God  in  the  life,  that  condition 
of   things  in  which  God  is  obeyed.     But   at   the 


THE    HEAVENLY    TREASURE  IO3 

very  outset  it  has  to  be  pointed  out  that  the  obe- 
dience contemplated  is  not  the  mere  mechanical 
conformity  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  as  one  con- 
forms to  a  civil  statute.  It  is  the  love  which  finds 
out  and  does  all  that  the  spirit  of  the  law  requires, 
whose  high  goal  of  attainment  is,  "  Be  ye  per- 
fect." It  is  an  obedience  inspired  by  enthusiasm, 
and  looking  forward  to  its  own  completion  as  its 
blessedness.  That  completion  of  obedience — that 
kingdom  of  God — is  a  treasure  for  which  the 
aspiring  soul  longs  with  infinite  longing.  Among 
the  first  similes  with  which  it  is  described  in  parable 
are  those  of  a  pearl  of  great  price  and  of  a  treasure 
hid  in  a  field.  While  the  Pharisee  and  the  hypo- 
crite had  a  pinchbeck  treasure,  which  they  were 
drawing  upon  and  exhausting  every  day,  the 
Christian  of  the  Beatitudes  has  a  treasure  laid  up 
in  heaven,  where  its  power  to  enlist  enthusiasm  is 
eternally  perpetuated. 

As  a  treasure  securely  laid  up  in  heaven,  com- 
pare it  with  the  treasures  for  which  men  strive  on 
the  earth.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  just  now 
thought  of  in  its  imperative  aspect ;  it  has  become 
a  possession,  appealing  in  a  way  to  the  appetitive 
man,  and  calling  out  whatever  is  like  acquisitive- 
ness in  our  spiritual  nature. 

I.   Observe  first  where  this  treas- 
ure is  to  be  laid  up,  and  wherein  its    Ver.  19-21 
preciousness  consists. 

Let  that  which  you  value  most  be  in  heaven. 
The  kingdom  of  God  is  a  state  of  things  not  fully 
realized  here.  It  belongs  to  the  unseen  and  future 
world.      It  is  called,  especially    in    Matthew,   the 


I04    MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

kingdom  of  heaven,  because  its  motives,  its  char- 
acter, its  high  standard,  are  all  drawn  from  heaven. 
It  is  that  sphere  of  conduct  which  has  its  center 
and  incentive  in  the  ideal  man.  The  ascendency 
of  that  ideal  character  in  us  is  to  be  our  most  ar- 
dent longing,  a  treasure  upon  which,  beyond  all 
other  treasures,  our  hearts'  affections  are  placed. 

Heaven,    then,    as    contemplated    here,    is    that 
region  of  spirituality  from  which  infinite  incentives 
proceed.      It  is  the  throne  of  God. 
Matt.  5:34    It  is  that   place  of    spiritual  excel- 
lence, that  infinite  height,  from  which 
the  voice  of  God  makes  itself  heard  in  the  soul, 
commanding  its  allegiance  and  attracting  it  upward 
to  higher  attainment.      Yet  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  New  Testament  thought  does  not  conceive  of 
all  divine  authority  as  appealing  to  us  from  heaven. 
There   is   a   distinction  in   the  place  from  which 
God's  commands  proceed,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  appeal  that  he  makes  to  us. 

A  classical  passage  illustrating  what  is  meant 
by  heaven  in  its  spiritual  sense  is 
Heb.  12  :  25    found  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
It  reads :  "  See  that  ye  refuse  not 
him  that  speaketh.      For  if  they  escaped  not,  when 
they  refused  him  that  warned  them  on  earth,  much 
more  shall  not  we  escape,  who  turn   away   from 
him    that    warneth    from     heaven." 
Heb.  12  :  18-21    The  warning  on  the  earth   spoken 
of   is  the  impressive  self-revelation 
of    God  on  Sinai.     That  speaking  to   men   came 
down  to  them  from  the  highest    regions  of   au- 
thority.     It  was  distinctively  and  divinely  impera- 


THE    HEAVENLY    TREASURE  IO5 

tive      It  was  attended  with  supernatural  marvels. 
It  issued  from  visible  heavens   black   with  thick 
clouds,  awfully  vocal  with  rolling  thunder  and  lurid 
with  lightning.      It  enforced  its  pro- 
hibitions with  the  death  penalty,  as    Deut.  32:35 
only  God  and  those  powers  that  are 
ordained  of  him  have  the  right  to    Rom.  13  : 1-6 
do.      One    would    say  that   if    ever 
there  was  a  speaking  from  the  heavenly  throne  it 
was   then.      Yet   the   inspired    writer    says    of    all 
this,  "  He  spake  on  the  earth,  and  he  speaks  more 
momentously  to  you  from  heaven." 
On  the  other  hand  the  mountain 
of  promulgation,  to  which  the  Chris-    Heb.  12  :  21-24 
tians  addressed  were  come,  is  called 
Mount    Zion  ;  and  we  can  only  understand  by  it 
the  highest  beauty  and  joy  and  liberty  and  spiritual 
excellence  of  which  just   men  made   perfect   are 
capable.     The  divine  speaking  in  these  last  days, 
as  it  is  elsewhere  said  to  these  same 
Christians,  is  by  the  Son.      It  is  the    Heb.  i  :  i,  2 
welling-up  of  sonship  in  the  heart. 
It  gains  ascendency  as  the  divinely  quickened  soul, 
given  power  by  faith  to  become  a  son  of  God,  goes 
out  to  meet   and  ratifies  the  divine  word.     It  is 
attended  by  no  terrors  of  imperative  promulgation. 
It  inspires  no  sense  of  unyielding  coercive  author- 
ity from  without.      It  is  the  moral  appeal  which 
accompanies    the    proclamation    of 
Jesus   Christ   as  the  merciful  high    Heb.  i,  2 
priest     and    Saviour.        It    is    the 
measure  of  duty  which  the  quickened  and  loyal 
soul  places  upon  itself  in  the  spirit  of  love. 


I06    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

Such  a  speaking  is  distinguished  from  speaking 
on  the  earth,  not  by  such  awe-inspiring  accessories 
as  supernatural  manifestations,  astounding  terrors, 
power  of  life  and  death,  but  by  its  intimate  alliance 
and  co-operation  with  the  soul  itself.  That  which 
distinguishes  heaven  is  not  its  external  elevation, 
but  its  inwardness.  It  is  in  the  soul.  Its  throne 
is  in  the  ideal  self.  It  is  the  voice  of  our  eternal 
future  giving  us  admonition  and  precept.  When 
God  speaks  from  our  inner  and  true  self,  and  fires 
us  with  anticipation,  through  faith,  of  our  end  in 
him,  he  speaks  from  heaven.  Thus  appealed  to, 
our  obedience  is  not  consciously  to  an  authoritative 
voice,  but  to  an  aspiring  impulse ;  our  dread  is  not 
that  of  an  outward  infliction,  but  of  an  inward 
defilement  ;  our  anticipation  is  not  that  of  an 
awarded  felicity,  but  of  an  attained  purity  and 
wholeness.  The  heaven  from  which  incentives 
proceed,  and  where  our  treasure  is  placed,  is  in 
our  inner  and  true,  yet  ideal  and  future  selves. 
God  so  closely  unites  himself  to  us  in  the  dis- 
pensation of  his  grace,  that  our  deepest  self  is  the 
very  habitation  of  his  throne. 

Such  a  heaven  is  not  simply  3.  post  morfan  place 
of  felicity.  It  is  rather  a  realm  of  excellence  and 
peace  with  which  we  may  enter  into  the  closest 
relations  here  and  now.  We  do  not  have  to  wait 
until  death  for  it.  It  is  so  close  to  us  that  all  the 
truest  impulses  of  our  lives  are  drawn  thence.     If 

not  our  bodies,  at  least  our  hearts 
Ps.  91 ;  I     may  be  in  heaven.     "  The    secret 

place  of  the  Most  High,"  described 
by  the  psalmist,  is  a  place  where  even  the  earthly 


THE  HEAVENLY  TREASURE         IO7 

saint  may  expect  actually  to  dwell.  To  lay  up 
our  treasure  in  heaven,  therefore,  is  not  simply  to 
have  all  our  affections  and  anticipations  centered 
in  dying  and  being  at  rest  in  paradise.  Such  a 
condition  of  mind  is  natural  only  to  the  sick  or  the 
aged.  But  our  having  a  heavenly  treasure  is  con- 
sistent with  the  most  whole-hearted  interest  in 
earthly  things.  Yet,  after  all,  the  heavenly  aspira- 
tion is  for  that  which  is  completed  only  in  the 
eternal  future.  It  contrasts  itself  vi^ith  the  phari- 
saic  working  to  be  seen  of  men,  or  with  the  avari- 
cious heaping  up  of  gold,  as  the  treasuring  for  the 
future  contrasts  with  the  hoarding  for  the  present. 
Heaven  is  a  contrast  to  earth.  We  are  to  place 
value  on  those  excellencies  which  have  an  infinite 
reach  and  outlook.  Up  above  us  those  things  are, 
but  up  in  a  spiritual  sense,  that  is,  in  the  direction 
of  the  highest  rank  of  being.  The  treasure  is  an 
attainment  in  spirituality ;  laying  it  up  is  living  in 
behalf  of  the  inner  and  true  self  as  that  self  com- 
prehends its  own  eternal  consummation  in  the 
presence  of  God. 

It  is,  therefore,  no  unpractical  or  visionary  thing 
so  to  live  that  our  truest  affections  are  in  heaven. 
It  is  no  indolent  postponing  of  exertion  after  ex- 
cellence to  some  effortless  clime  where  goodness 
shall  be  absorbed  unconsciously.  It  is  no  selfish 
anticipation  of  simply  getting  revenge  for  the 
slights  and  hardships  of  life.  The  anticipation  of 
our  heaven  transfigures  all  the  activity  of  life  with 
true  and  noble  and  eternal  motive.  It  irradiates 
all  life's  experiences,  however  sad,  with  the  bright 
hope  of  an  eternal  fruitage  of  good. 


I08    MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

The  particular  value  for  which  Jesus  recom- 
mends the  heavenly  treasure  is,  that  it  is  durable 
and  inalienable.  The  moth  and  rust  do  not  dis- 
figure in  heaven,  nor  do  thieves  dig  through  and 
steal.  The  desirableness  of  the  heavenly  treasure 
does  not  depend  on  a  perishable  beauty  which  men 
admire,  nor  upon  a  transferable  property  value 
which  men  covet.  Such  attractions  but  tickle 
the  senses,  or  gratify  the  acquisitive  propensities. 
But  the  sense  and  appreciation  of  durableness  is 
acquired  by  forethought  and  reasoning.  The 
choosing  of  it  in  preference  to  immediate  gratifica- 
tion means  the  curbing  of  imperious  passion  and 
the  foregoing  of  temporary  gratification  for  the 
sake  of  a  higher  good.  To  do  it  involves  living  in 
the  higher  nature — the  region  of  judgment  and  fore- 
thought and  self-denial.  The  advice  might  almost 
resolve  itself  into,  "  Cultivate  a  sense  for  durable 
values."  It  is  this  which  distinguishes  the  mature 
from  the  childish  intellect,  the  civilized  from  the 
savage,  the  conscientious  from  the  unscrupulous 
and  vicious.  Thus  even  in  secular  civilization 
there  is  a  progress  toward  the  sense  for  the  dur- 
able. If  we  but  couple  with  this  elementary  sense 
the  spiritual  knowledge  of  what  is  most  durable 
and  most  inalienable — the  perception  of  the  one 
thing  needful — we  have  true  obedience  to  the 
Saviour's  command,  "  Lay  up  for  yourselves  treas- 
ures in  heaven." 

But  the  one  element  of  durability  and  value  more 
important  than  immunity  from  the  moth  and  the 
thief,  is  the  perpetual  power  of  the  heavenly  treas- 
ure to  enlist  and  satisfy  the  heart.     It  always  re- 


THE    HEAVENLY    TREASURE  IO9 

mains  a  treasure.  "  Where  thy  treasure  is,  there 
will  thy  heart  be  also."  Beauty  of  costly  vesture 
will  by  and  by  cease  to  give  satisfaction.  Value 
of  coveted  riches  must  shortly  be  relinquished.  It 
is  no  treasure  except  so  long  as  it  is  esteemed  as 
such.  The  heart  makes  its  own  treasure,  and  the 
heart  can  get  but  temporary  satisfaction  in  finite 
things.  This  restless  heart  of  ours, 
in  which  God  has  set  eternity,  must  EccI.  3:11 
find  something  which  it  may  serve, 
and  in  which  it  can  take  delight  forever ;  and  this 
it  can  find  only  in  heaven,  where  infinite  values 
dwell.  After  all,  then,  if  we  have  found  durable- 
ness,  we  have  found  in  our  treasure  nothing  short 
of  infinity.  Vanity  thinks  it  finds  value  in  human 
admiration.  Political  economy  discovers  it  only  in 
power  to  pass  current  in  the  market.  But  these 
elements  of  value  are  for  the  earth  alone.  They 
are  only  associated  with  ideas  of  personal  distinc- 
tion and  property.  The  one  element  of  value  more 
important  than  all  is  permanence ;  and  the  heavenly 
treasure  possesses  this,  because  it  is  eternally  glori- 
ous, eternally  inalienable,  eternally  satisfying  and 
precious. 

2.   But  the  Saviour  now  passes  to 
the  thought  of    how  this    treasure,    Yet,  22-34 
which  has  only  durability  to  recom- 
mend it,  shall  compete  for  men's  appreciation  on  an 
earthly  stage.   It  does  not  seem  to  fill  the  same  want 
that  the  earthly  treasure  fills.      It  may  have  dura- 
bility, but  has  it  attracting  power  for  the  present  ? 
Especially  in  a  world  where  the  necessities  of  the 
body  are  very  pressing,  can  the  Saviour  reasonably 


IIO    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

expect  men  to  give  up  the  anxious  pursuit  of  neces- 
sary riches  for  the  sake  of  a  possession  which  can- 
not clothe  the  body  or  fill  the  mouth  with  food? 

The  vital  question  is  the  question 
Ver.  22  23  ^^  appreciation.  Will  the  man  see 
the  treasure?  It  is  worthy  of  notice 
how  dependent  is  our  spiritual  development  on  the 
eye.  It  is  the  eye  rather  than  the  reasoning  pow- 
ers on  which  the  Saviour  rests  the  capability  of 
having  a  treasure  at  all.  The  eye  is  the  organ  of 
the  individual ;  it  acts  only  from  the  personal 
standpoint.  It  does  not,  like  the  logical  devices 
of  the  reason,  establish  a  common  ground  for  col- 
lective knowledge.  All  cultivating,  therefore,  of 
the  eye,  bodily  or  spiritual,  is  a  training  in  personal 
character  and  power  of  appreciation. 

The  value  of  the  treasure,  then,  is  subjective. 
Heavenly  excellence  may  exist  in  all  its  glory,  but 
it  sheds  no  light  on  the  soul  until  that  soul  has 
eyes  to  see  it.  "The  lamp  of  the  body  is  the  eye : 
if  therefore  thine  eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body 
shall  be  full  of  light.  But  if  thine  eye  be  evil  thy 
whole  body  shall  be  full  of  darkness."  The  great- 
est darkness  is  the  darkness  of  impenetrability — 
the  quenching  of  the  light  that  is  ///  t/iee.  The 
word  single,  as  applied  to  the  eye,  is  important.  As 
the  Saviour  said  in  the  Beatitudes  that  the  pure — 
that  is,  unmixed — in  heart  should  see  God,  so  here 
he  says  that  the  single  of  eye  shall  see  the  infinite 
treasure.  I  presume  there  is  no  reference  to  the 
physiological  fact  that  only  as  the  rays  of  light 
converge  to  a  single  point  on  the  retina  of  the  eye 
is  there  a  distinct  image  and  clear  vision.      Such 


THE  HEAVENLY  TREASURE         III 

an  allusion  would  hardly  have  been  possible  with 
the  Saviour's  auditors.  But  there  is  in  the  figure 
an  emphatic  statement  of  the  principle  that  only  by 
single  spiritual  allegiance  is  the  vision  for  infinite 
values  kept  clear.  Moral  obliquity  will  ever  divide 
and  cloud  the  soul's  sight. 

The  thought,  therefore,  naturally 
passes  to  that  of  divided  allegiance.    Ver,  24 
•'  No  man  can  serve  two  masters."  If 
a  man  would  appreciate  and  rejoice  in  the  heavenly 
treasure,  he  must  make  God  the  absolute  ruler  of  his 
heart.    His  treasure  is  that  which  masters  him  and 
calls  out  all  his  enthusiasm.   And  it  must  master  him 
in  a  different  way  from  that  in  which  mere  acquis- 
itiveness masters  a  man.     The  heavenly  treasuring 
and  the  earthly  proceed  from  opposite   impulses, 
that  can  be  mingled  only  at  the  cost  of  debasing 
and  neutralizing  each  other.      "  Ye   cannot   serve 
God  and  mammon." 

This  principle  of  the  incompatibility  of  God's 
service  and  that  of  riches  becomes  somewhat  dififi- 
cult  exactly  to  define  when  we  undertake  to  reduce 
it  to  practice.  It  does  not  mean  that  only  those 
who  renounce  all  secular  occupations  and  assume 
a  life  of  poverty  can  render  acceptable  service  to 
God.  It  does  not  mean  that  the  earthly  responsi- 
bility is  to  be  borne  in  any  half-hearted  manner,  as 
if  God  were  jealous  of  all  except  absolutely  neces- 
sary interest,  on  the  part  of  his  children,  in  this 
world  and  its  prosperity.  The  best  Christian  may 
be  the  most  diligent  in  business,  and  the  most 
nobly  eager  for  success  in  business,  which  is  the 
making  of  money.     As  Ruskin  says  : 


112  MAGNA  CHAKTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

"All  healthily  minded  people  like  making  money — ought 
to  like  it,  and  to  enjoy  the  sensation  of  winning  it  ;  but  the 
main  object  of  their  life  is  not  money  ;  it  is  something  bet- 
ter than  money."  He  goes  on  to  say  :  "  Vou  cannot  serve 
two  masters  ;  you  must  serve  one  or  the  other.  If  your 
work  is  first  with  you,  and  your  fee  second,  work  is  your 
master,  and  the  lord  of  work,  who  is  God.  But  if  your  fee 
is  first  with  you,  and  your  work  second,  fee  is  your  master, 
and  the  lord  of  fee,  who  is  the  devil  ;  and  not  only  the 
devil,  but  the  lowest  of  devils — the  '  least  erected  fiend 
that  fell.'  " 

The  principle  is,  that  the  longing  for  an  infinite 
reward  and  acquisitiveness,  or  self-seeking,  are  en- 
tirely distinct  motives.  They  cannot  mingle.  If 
one  serves  God  he  must  do  so  unselfishly,  and  with 
utter  absorption  in  a  higher  object  than  earthly 
good.  The  natural  impulse  for  acquisition — the 
self-regarding  impulse,  which  when  given  supreme 
sway  issues  in  mammon-worship — is  absent  from 
the  service  of  God.  That  which  we  have  of  it  be- 
longs to  the  life  of  this  world,  not  to  the  distinctive 
life  of  the  sons  of  God.  It  is  necessary  to  state 
this,  because  we  are  contemplating  the  heavenly 
kingdom  in  the  light  of  a  treasure.  It  is  natural 
to  think  of  the  laying  of  it  up  as  a  kind  of  higher 
and  wiser  self-seeking.  Let  it  be  seen,  then,  that 
the  heavenly  treasure  is  sought  and  valued  by  an 
absolutely  unselfish  impulse,  and  one  that  is  en- 
tirely distinct  from  the  self-regarding  impulse,  or 
acquisitiveness.  The  value  of  that  treasure  is  not 
property  value.  Ideas  of  ownership,  of  self  as  an 
end,  of  property,  can  be  mingled  with  the  service 
of  God  only  at  the  expense  of  debasing  and  de- 
stroying the  pure  motive  from  which  that  service 


THE  HEAVENLY  TREASURE         I  13 

proceeds.  Ye  cannot  serve  God  ajid  mammon  in 
the  one  act. 

Heaven,  therefore,  as  the  reward  of  the  right- 
eous, cannot  be  looked  upon  as  a  selfish  acquisi- 
tion. The  motives  with  which  one  truly  serves 
God  are  not  at  all  such  motives  as  those  with 
which  one  works  for  wages.  As  to  the  happiness 
of  his  soul  in  its  disembodied  state,  the  godly  man 
trusts  his  heavenly  Father  for  that,  and  closes  his 
eyes  in  unselfish  peace.  Mere  post  mortem  felicity 
is  not  an  object  of  striving  ;  divine  grace  is  the 
assurance  of  future  happiness,  and  no  merit  of  the 
man's  own  can  make  this  any  surer.  But  the  re- 
ward which  he  seeks  and  anticipates  is  the  eternal 
truth  and  holiness  for  its  own  sake.  Eternal  life 
is  the  high  goal  and  standard  of  all  his  strivings, 
and  this  reward  he  begins  to  get  when  his  inner 
and  deepest  man  is  at  harmony  with  infinite  good- 
ness, whether  he  has  entered  on  the  unseen  exist- 
ence or  not.  Nor  is  this  personal  excellence  which 
he  seeks  a  surpassing  trait  whose  value  to  him  is 
simply  that  it  distinguishes  him,  and  makes  him  con- 
scious of  merit.  Entirely  apart  from  the  thought 
of  exclusive  ownership,  the  eternal  goodness  is  an 
attainment  which  enlists  his  enthusiasm. 

Now  the  objection  may  arise,  that  while  this  may 
be  very  good  theory,  the  carrying  out  of  such  an 
unselfish  principle  is  impracticable.  You  may 
very  likely  question  whether  any  one  ever  lived  a 
life  of  striving  for  some  abstract  truth  or  lofty  at- 
tainment without  reference  to  the  property  value 
or  distinguishing  merit  of  that  attainment  for  him- 
self.     But  does  not  some  such  thing  often  happen 

H 


1  14  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

in  the  realm  of  art  and  science  ?  The  true  artist 
is  absorbed  in  an  ideal  which  he  is  seeking  to 
shadow  forth  on  his  canvas.  Is  his  seeking  a  selfish 
aspiration  ?  Some  idea  and  vision  of  beauty  has 
possessed  and  mastered  him.  It  is  not  simply  for 
the  vulgar  honor  of  being  the  exponent  of  that  high 
ideal  to  the  world  that  he  labors.  Honor  of  course 
is  grateful,  but  the  successful  embodiment  of  his 
ideal  is  a  different  and  far  less  selfish  gratification. 
It  is  for  his  ideal's  sake  that  he  labors,  and  not  for 
his  own.  Moreover,  he  cannot  worthily  serve  his 
ideal  and  mammon  at  the  same  time.  In  so  far  as 
he  labors  simply  for  his  market  he  debases  his  art. 
He  knows  that  entire  absorption  in  the  highest 
artistic  excellence  is  a  different  thing  from  the 
thrifty  looking  to  immediate  profit.  He  often  has 
to  interrupt  his  highest  labors  for  years,  feeling  the 
regret  and  deprivation  all  the  time,  that  he  may 
meet  the  wants  of  this  life.  This  he  calls  pot- 
boiling.  If  he  becomes  successful  in  bread-and- 
butter  art,  and  as  a  consequence  begins  to  lose  his 
vision  and  longing  for  his  higher  ideal,  he  con- 
demns himself.  The  truest  artistic  striving  is 
unselfish  and  entirely  distinct  from  ambition  or 
avarice. 

Truth  too,  apart  from  its  immediate  utility,  may 
become  a  treasure  which  will  absorb  the  man's 
whole  desire  and  striving.  The  pursuit  of  it  may 
be  for  its  own  sake,  and  by  an  entirely  unselfish 
impulse.  The  great  scientist,  Agassiz,  said  that  he 
had  no  time  to  make  money.  Yet  if  he  had  chosen 
he  might  have  turned  his  scientific  knowledge  and 
reputation  to  great  account  in  enriching  himself. 


THE  HEAVENLY  TREASURE         II5 

Look  again  at  the  patient  and  laborious  life  of 
Darwin.  Here  was  a  man  who,  possessed  of  in- 
dependent means,  devoted  all  his  life  and  great 
amounts  of  money  to  the  patient  investigation  of 
facts  in  nature.  Was  he  seeking  personal  distinc- 
tion for  himself.'*  Did  the  preciousness  of  his 
treasure  consist  in  the  fact  that  it  was  his  exclu- 
sively.'* Can  we  charge  him  with  acting  all  his  life 
on  the  mere  vulgar  desire  to  be  the  introducer  of 
novelties  .'*  We  should  be  unjust  to  him  if  we  did. 
Perhaps,  on  the  other  hand,  we  can  hardly  go  so 
far  as  to  credit  him  with  working  distinctively  and 
solely  for  his  fellow-men.  He  had  caught  sight  of 
truth  and  had  fallen  in  love  with  it.  He  was  seek- 
ing truth  for  its  own  sake.  To  know  facts,  to  be 
able  to  classify  and  generalize  the  results  of  his 
observation,  was  in  itself  his  exceeding  great  re- 
ward. Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  theory  that 
has  grown  out  of  his  study,  he  has  certainly  en- 
riched the  world  immensely  with  established  facts. 
And  all  this  labor  he  undertook,  we  may  believe, 
not  with  the  motive  of  making  his  fortune,  or  of 
distinguishing  himself,  but  simply  for  the  sake  of 
knowing.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  work  of 
Galileo,  Copernicus,  Newton,  Pasteur,  Roentgen. 
These  looked  for  a  treasure  which  the  thief  could 
not  get,  and  which  was  not  subject  to  moth  and  rust. 
Once  secured,  it  was  the  possession  of  the  world,  and 
its  result  of  enlarging  the  world's  intellectual  ho- 
rizon was  a  permanent  one.  Thus  we  see  how,  even 
in  secular  affairs,  a  man  may  become  engaged  in 
the  pursuit  of  an  abstract  and  unseen  good,  a 
treasure  which  is  immaterial  and  unfading:. 


Il6  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

In  the  pursuit  of  truth  for  its  own  sake,  as  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  highest  art,  the  man  cannot 
serve  his  high  end  and  mammon  at  the  same  time. 
God  is  light,  or  truth,  and  as  truth  he  can  be  wor- 
shiped only  with  a  single  allegiance.  The  teacher 
who  is  penetrated  simj^ly  with  the  thought  that  he 
must  keep  his  position  and  make  his  account  by 
teaching  what  his  employers  prescribe  is  incapac- 
itated, so  far  as  that  thought  rules  him,  for  the  in- 
dependent search  for  truth.  In  fact,  it  is  not  his 
business  as  an  employed  teacher  to  prosecute  orig- 
inal investigations  ;  it  is  to  diffuse  that  knowledge 
which  is  regarded  as  established.  Original  research 
can  hold  out  no  promise  of  enrichment  for  this  life. 
Subserviency  to  mammon  dims  the  eyesight  for  the 
infinite  value  of  undiscovered  truth.  The  same 
applies  to  all  that  is  of  infinite  reach  and  precious- 
ness,  as  contrasted  with  what  is  under  finite  com- 
prehension and  control  so  as  to  be  simply  useful 
for  the  life.  If  you  would  have  its  light  shine  upon 
you,  keep  the  light  of  the  body  clear.  If  you  would 
make  the  infinite  your  mastering  enthusiasm  and 
treasure,  serve  it  with  a  single  allegiance.  Do  not 
mingle  thrift  with  devotion  to  the  ideal,  whether  it 
be  in  the  realm  of  beauty  or  truth  or  moral  excel- 
lence. It  will  debase  it ;  it  will  darken  the  eye  of 
your  soul.  "Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon." 
There  is  no  doubt  then,  that  the  entirely  un- 
selfish pursuit  of  the  infinite  treasure  may  become 

more  attractive  and  engaging  than 
Ver.  25-34    ^^^  amassing  of  earthly  riches.     But 

Jesus  now  turns  to  those  upon  whom 
earthly  striving  makes  its  fiercest  demand,  namely, 


THE  HEAVENLY  TREASURE         II7 

the  necessitous.  Can  we  expect  these  to  remit 
their  anxiety  for  the  sake  of  a  treasure  which  has 
only  durabihty  to  recommend  it  ?  We  might  say  : 
"  It  is  easy  enough  to  talk  about  striving  for  an 
unseen  and  permanent  treasure  if  we  are  so  situ- 
ated that  we  do  not  have  to  give  thought  to  the 
question  of  maintenance.  But  as  long  as  our 
earthly  life  has  to  be  passed  in  the  getting  of  those 
things  which  are  consumed  in  the  using,  so  that 
we  have  to  get  them  over  and  over  again  as  we  use 
them  up,  it  is  difficult  to  find  any  pursuit  more 
fiercely  engaging  than  this.  How  then  can  the 
service  of  the  heavenly  Master  be  so  single-hearted 
as  a  clear  vision  of  his  glory  requires  } " 

Let  it  be  understood,  that  in  speaking  of  the  ac- 
quisitive impulse  as  a  contrast  to  that  enthusiasm 
by  which  one  seeks  the  kingdom  of  God,  I  do  not 
mean  to  imply  that  this  is  a  sinful  impulse  and  that 
all  the  life  of  acquisition  must  be  replaced  by  an 
entirely  unselfish  striving  for  unseen  good.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  a  new  profession  or  occu- 
pation which  excludes  and  renders  unlawful  those 
pursuits  by  which  we  acquire  wealth,  but  it  is  a 
leaven  which  pervades  and  ennobles  all  our  earthly 
care  and  labor.  The  eager  and  even  absorbed  pur- 
suit of  earthly  necessities  remains,  on  the  level  of 
this  world,  as  the  inert  lump  into  which  the  leaven 
of  the  kingdom  is  placed  until  the  whole  is  leav- 
ened, giving  us,  as  the  result  in  our  active  life,  not 
all  leaven,  that  is,  all  unworldly  rapture,  but  a  leav- 
ened lump  of  victorious  striving,  having  its  earthly 
body  of  present  achievement,  and  its  heavenly  soul 
of  eternal  life. 


Il8    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

The  earnest  striving  for  the  things  necessary  to 
the  body  is  presupposed.  People  do  not  have  to 
be  commanded  to  do  this.  Necessity  will  drive 
them.  But  the  life  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in 
the  soul  will  mitigate  the  anxiety  of  that  striving. 
Concerning  these  v^ery  pressing  necessities  the 
Saviour  says,  "  Be  not  anxious."  And  the  very 
potent  consideration  which  lightens  anxiety  is  the 
truth  that  the  God  whom  we  serve  is  a  loving 
Father.  He  is  not  only  an  infinite  Glory  of  Holi- 
ness in  whom  our  souls  may  become  absorbed,  but 
he  is  an  infinite  Heart  of  Love  who  cares  for  us, 
knows  our  needs,  and  may  be  trusted  to  provide. 
The  life  of  aspiration  is  also  a  life  of  trust.  As 
the  Christian  trusts  God  without  stipulation  for  the 
happiness  of  his  soul  beyond  the  grave,  and  mean- 
while goes  on  undistracted  in  his  striving  for  near- 
ness to  his  purity,  so  also  he  trusts  the  same  God 
for  the  supply  of  whatever  may  be  necessary  here 
below ;  and  thus  his  honest  labor  for  a  maintenance 
is  made  no  less  assiduous  and  prudent,  and  at  the 
same  time  far  more  confident  and  hopeful.  Our 
heavenly  Father  feeds  the  birds  of  the  air,  which 
neither  sow  nor  reap  nor  gather  into  barns,  and  we 
may  call  ourselves  much  more  worthy  of  a  holy  and 
loving  Being's  regard.  He  clothes  the  lilies,  which 
neither  toil  nor  spin,  in  such  a  beauty  as  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  never  equaled ;  and  if  he  is  worthy 
of  our  faith  he  cannot  but  do  much  more  for  us. 
If  things  go  by  the  disposal  of  an  intelligent  and 
loving  Being  here  below,  then  trust  in  him  and 
conformity  to  his  nature  is  not  only  the  highest 
good,  but  the  best  condition  of  any  prosperity  which 


THE  HEAVENLY  TREASURE         IlQ 

a  true  heart  would  be  willing  to  accept.  Anxiety 
is  utterly  useless  ;  it  cannot  add  to  our  stature  one 
cubit.  But  the  appreciation  and  anticipation  of  the 
heavenly  treasure,  while  the  direct  condition  of  the 
truest  good,  is  also  a  confidence  in  God  which 
keeps  necessity  from  overbearing  our  integrity  and 
overwhelming  us  in  discouragement.  It  makes  the 
person  sure  that  the  highest  abstract  good  is  not 
only  integrity  and  purity,  but  that  these  are  the 
only  good  which  will  pay  in  the  long  run. 

That  which  we  should  want  most,  even  in  the 
midst  of  our  earthly  necessities,  is  the  kingdom  and 
righteousness  of  God.  Whatever  else  yields,  let  not 
that.  Seek  that  as  of  first  importance.  For  the 
rest,  let  us  in  our  most  prudent  striving  trust  God. 
With  the  integrity  and  love  which  his  kingdom  pro- 
duces in  the  lite,  we  shall  be  surest  of  providential 
supply.  It  is  not  the  most  ravenous  beast  that 
gets  the  most  constant  supply  of  food.  It  is  not 
the  thief  that  in  the  long  run  gets  the  best  living. 
It  is  the  man  who  by  his  unselfish  goodness  lays 
humble  ones  all  around  him  under  the  greatest 
debt  of  gratitude  who  is  surest  of  human  succor 
in  his  helplessness.  It  is  the  honest  and  true  man 
who  is  surest  of  forbearance  and  sympathy  when 
he  experiences  reverses.  "  The 
young  lions  do  lack,  and  suffer  hun-  Ps.  34 :  10 
ger  :  but  they  that  seek  the  Lord 
shall  not  want  any  good  thing."  "All  these 
things  "  which  we  need  are  far  surer  to  come  if 
we  seek  first  the  kingdom  and  the  righteousness 
of  God,  than  if  our  first  and  supreme  motive  is  the 
conscienceless  scheming  to  get  on. 


I20    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

Even  our  earthly  striving  will  be 
Ver.  34    most   efficient  when    unclouded   by 

anxiety.  Prudence  would  dictate 
that  we  should  not  let  the  anxiety  of  to-morrow 
crowd  itself  upon  to-day.  "  The  morrow  will  be 
anxious  for  itself.  Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the 
evil  thereof."  Even  in  our  most  absorbed  concern 
for  the  earthly  need,  we  strive  best  in  the  con- 
fidence of  the  kingdom  of  God.  There  may  be 
no  mingling  of  the  service  of    God  with  that  of 

mammon,  but  at  the  same  time  god- 
I  Tim.  4 : 8    liness    is    profitable  for  all    things, 

having  promise  of  the  life  which 
now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come.  Thus  the 
Saviour  who  prescribes  a  morality  of  the  highest 
idealism  is  so  mindful  of  our  legitimate  earthly 
needs  as  to  show  us  the  path  of  the  truest  worldly 
prudence.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  treasure 
worthy  of  our  supreme  effort  both  now  and  here- 
after. 


VI 

CORRECTIVES  OF  EGOISM 


Matt.  7  ;  I-I2 


VI 


Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged.  For  with  what  judgement  ye 
judge,  ye  shall  be  judged  :  and  with  what  meabure  ye  mete,  it 
shall  be  measured  unto  you.  And  why  beholdest  thou  the  mote 
that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not  the  beam  that  is  in 
thine  own  eye  ?  Or  how  w-ilt  thou  say  to  thy  brother,  Let  me 
cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thine  eye  ;  and  lo,  the  beam  is  in  thine 
own  eye?  Thou  hypocrite,  cast  out  first  the  beam  out  of  thine 
own  eye  ;  and  then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  out 
of  thy  brother's  eye. 

Give  not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither  cast  your 
pearls  before  swine,  lest  haply  they  trample  them  under  their  feet, 
and  turn  and  rend  you. 

Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you  ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find  ;  knock, 
and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you  :  for  every  one  that  asketh  re- 
ceiveth  ;  and  he  that  seeketh  findeth  ;  and  to  him  that  knocketh  it 
shall  be  opened.  Or  what  man  is  there  of  you,  who,  if  his  son 
shall  ask  him  for  a  loaf,  will  give  him  a  stone  ;  or  if  he  shall  ask 
for  a  fish,  will  give  him  a  serpent?  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask 
him  ?  All  things  therefore  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should 
do  unto  you,  even  so  do  ye  also  unto  them  :  for  this  is  the  law  and 
the  prophets. 

In  this  section  of  the  Mountain  Sermon  Jesus 
is  giving  advice  in  view  of  a  certain  great  fact  of 
human  nature  from  which  we  cannot  free  our- 
selves. It  is  a  fact  which  hardly  attracts  the 
common  attention  because  we  rarely  think  what  it 
would  be  to  be  without  it.  Yet  it  is  a  fact  which 
it  is  our  duty,  just  as  far  as  we  can,  to  rise  above, 
at  least  to  take  into  account  in  all  our  judgments 
of  character,  and  make  the  very  considerable  cor- 
rections which  are  required  in  every  estimation  of 

123 


124    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

desert  on  account  of  it.  Jesus  sees  the  fact  clearly, 
and  knows  how  to  lay  down  rules  in  view  of  it, 
because  as  the  Son  of  God  he  is  above  it. 

This  fact  is  our  individuality.  I  am  so  shut 
within  myself  that  you  cannot  enter  into  my  men- 
tal state  or  consciousness,  so  as  to  realize  exactly 
how  things  seem  to  me.  You  are  shut  within 
yourself  in  the  same  way.  All  my  experiences 
are  mine  in  such  a  way  that  the  full  consciousness 
of  them  cannot  be  imparted  All  your  experiences 
are  in  the  same  way  exclusively  yours.  Whatever 
you  or  I  think  or  do,  we  constantly  take  into  ac- 
count ourselves  as  thinking  or  doing  it.  We  do 
nothing  impersonally  ;  there  is  in  every  mental  act 
the  feeling  of  ourselves  as  performing  it.  Any 
such  thing  as  moral  character  would  be  impossible 
without  this  fact.  Unless  I  knew  what  motives 
are  worth,  and  what  I  am  as  affected  by  motives 
and  doing  deeds,  I  should  perform  no  moral  judg- 
ment on  myself  while  I  am  doing  deeds,  and  should 
have  nothing  in  me  on  which  condemnation  or 
approval  could  be  based.  Good  or  evil  could  not 
belong  to  my  actions.  This  individuality,  this 
consciousness  of  ourselves  as  doing  what  we  do,  is 
what  makes  our  moral  life  possible.  Yet  the  fact 
that  each  of  us  is  conscious  of  himself  as  of  no 
one  else  is  a  fact  which  incapacitates  us  for  some 
things  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  a  fact  which  must 
therefore  be  taken  into  account  in  our  moral 
judgments. 

We  do  not  look  at  ourselves  or  our  actions  from 
an  impartial  viewpoint.  This  is  emphatically  true 
when  we   compare   ourselves   with  others.      Each 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  I  25 

of  US  judges  from  a  point  within  himself.  Any 
other  one  seeing  the  same  thing  sees  it  differently, 
because  it  is  from  within  himself,  and  with  the 
consciousness  of  his  relation  to  it,  that  he  views  it. 
So  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  comparative  merits  of 
men  are  judged  exclusively  from  separate  apart- 
ments. It  is  as  if  each  of  us  saw  a  wide  landscape 
from  a  small  aperture.  Each  of  us  sees  it  differ- 
ently, and  none  of  us  is  competent  to  describe  it 
as  a  whole.  It  is  evident  that  if  there  is  to  be 
any  true  judging  of  character  it  must  be  by  some 
one  who  can  view  it  without  the  confining  effect 
of  this  individuality  of  ours.  Some  one  who  is 
able  to  judge  himself  in  comparison  with  others, 
from  a  point  of  view  superior  to  both  sides,  alone 
can  be  the  judge  of  the  world.  If  we  could  only 
get  above  ourselves  and  see  things  as  God  sees 
them,  then  we  should  be  competent  to  say  whether 
I  am  better  than  you,  or  you  are  better  than  I. 
But  we  never  get  entirely  above  ourselves.  We 
always  remain  individuals,  viewing  life  from  the 
personal  basis  which  is  natural  to  us.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  we  make  progress 
toward  getting  upon  the  higher  plane  for  seeing. 
Just  in  proportion  as  God's  Spirit  possesses  us  we 
have  some  conception  of  how  we  and  all  men  look 
in  God's  sight.  When,  indeed,  we  come  to  see 
ourselves  as  God  sees  us,  we  call  it  conviction  of 
sin  ;  and  it  is  this  profound  sense  of  sin  which 
makes  us  ask  for  God's  forgiveness.  Yet  there 
always  remains  the  fact  that  we  are  individuals — 
a  fact  which,  with  all  our  effort,  we  never  entirely 
rise  above. 


126  MAGNA  CHAKTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

Now  this  fact  I  have  described  as  simply  as  I 
can.  Perhaps  it  may  seem  a  somewhat  abstract 
conception  to  introduce  into  this  very  practical  dis- 
course of  the  Saviour's  ;  but  this  fact  is  the  basis 
and  presupposition  of  what  Jesus  has  to  say  here, 
and  therefore  must  be  pointed  out  that  we  may 
understand  his  words.  We  may  as  well  go  on  and 
find  a  name  for  this  psychological  fact  of  human 
nature;  for  if  we  have  it  named  we  shall  get  along 
the  better  in  dealing  with  it.  We  will  call  it  ego- 
ism— that  is,  the  influence  of  the  ego,  the  I,  that 
lies  at  the  basis  of  each  human  character.  This 
egoism  shuts  each  of  us  up  to  his  own  individual 
view  of  things,  and  thus  makes  his  personal  judg- 
ments too  narrow  to  be  universally  true. 

It  is  evident  that  if  any  one  is  to  judge  the  world 
rightly,  and  pronounce  just  sentence  on  it,  he  must 
be  able  to  extricate  himself  from  the  influence  of 
this  ego.  He  must  be  able  not  only  to  see  my  side 
as  I  see  it,  and  at  the  same  time  to  see  your  side  as 
you  see  it,  but  he  must  be  above  us  both,  so  as  to 
see  things  as  neither  of  us  sees  them.  He  must  be 
able  to  look  down  upon  us  from  a  point  above  the 
individual  entirely.  He  must  be  able  to  judge  the 
matter,  not  as  it  affects  either  of  us,  nor  as  it 
affects  him  personally,  but  as  it  affects  the  truth 
of  things.  Thus  viewed,  my  dealing  with  you, 
which  may  look  very  badly  as  seen  with  your  eyes, 
or  your  dealing  with  me,  which  may  have  made  me 
very  indignant,  shall  be  judged  by  one  who  enters 
with  infinite  nearness  into  the  feeling  of  both  of 
us  in  the  matter,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  sees  it 
all  from  the  height  of  an  infinite  equality  of  justice 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  12/ 

such  as  you  and  I  never  perfectly  attain.  The 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  must  be  more  than  an  indi- 
vidual. 

Jesus  professes  to  be  able  to  judge  in  this  higher 
way.    He  sees  us  from  God's  viewpoint  because  he 
is  the  Son  of  God.    He  sees  from  our  own  because 
he  is  the  Son  of  man,  the  general  man,  the  spirit 
of  humanity.      He  says  that  this  fact  of  his  being 
the  Son  of  man  is  why  God  has  given 
him  power  to  execute  judgment.    He    John  5  :  27,  30 
says  too,  that  if  he  judges,  his  judg- 
ment is  just,  because  he  seeks  not  his  own  will,  but 
the  will  of  him  that  sent  him  ;  that  is,  he  has  God's 
purposes  and  God's  way  of  looking 
at  things.      In  still  another  place  he    John  8  :  14 
says  very  suggestively  that  though 
he  bears  witness  of  himself  his  testimony  is  true, 
because  he  knows  whence  he  comes  and  whithei 
he  goes;  which  seems  to  indicate  that  he  is  vividly 
and  practically  conscious  of  that  infinite  aspect  of 
his  personality  which  surrounds  his  present  exist- 
ence as  an  eternal  origin  and  destiny, — that  greater 
life  which  is  higher  than  mere  indi- 
viduality,— so  that,  even  though  he    Cf.  2  Cor.  5  :  16 
became  flesh,  or  individual,  he  judges 
not  after  the  flesh  ;  even  his  account  of  himself  is 
preserved  from  the  narrowing  and  vitiating  effects 
of  egoism.     Such  a  judge  have  we ;  and  we  can 
rejoice  on  being  judged  by  this  wonderful  Being, 
for  we  know  that  we  shall  be  rightly  appreciated. 
We  shall  be  more  justly  appreciated  than  we  ap- 
preciate ourselves,  and  far  more  justly  than  any 
other  man  appreciates  us. 


128  ma(;na  chakta  of  the  kingdom  of  god 

But  think  what  such  judgment  means.  I  say 
we  shall  be  more  justly  appreciated  than  we  appre- 
ciate ourselves.  If  we  so  live  that  our  only  basis 
for  any  kind  of  self-approval,  or  even  self-respect, 
is  our  warped  and  bigoted  egoism,  then  judged 
from  a  divme  point  of  view  we  shall  be  condemned. 
We  are  condemned,  indeed,  whenever  we  come  to 
see  ourselves  from  the  divine  side.  It  carries  the 
sharpest  consciousness  of  sin  to  our 
John  i6  :  8  hearts.  It  convicts  us  "  in  respect 
of  sin,"  and  we  call  it  the  work  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  But  if  we  so  live  and  believe 
and  love  that  it  is  our  highest  joy  to  be  judged  by 
universal  and  divine  judgment,  and  we  know  that 
the  judgment  cannot  destroy  our  self-respect,  be- 
cause we  derive  that  self-respect,  not  from  our  own 
merit,  but  from  the  free  grace,  or  unmerited  favor, 
of  God,  then  the  judgment  cannot  harm  us  any. 
We  welcome  it.  We  rejoice  in  it.  We  want  God's 
thought  of  us  to  penetrate  us  fully. 
Ps.  139  :  23,  24  With  the  psalmist,  we  ask  him  to 
search  us  and  know  our  hearts,  to 
try  us  and  know  our  thoughts,  to  see  if  there  be 
any  way  of  wickedness  in  us,  and  to  lead  us  in  the 
way  of  eternity.  The  higher,  the  divine  and  im- 
partial judgment,  is  what  we  long  for  with  unspeak- 
able longing.  It  gives  us  all  our  sense  of  worth, 
for  it  plants  us  ever  more  firmly  on  the  divine 
grace  and  pardon. 

Now  Jesus  says  that  this  fact  of  egoism  unfits 
us  to  be  judges  of  others  in  comparison  with  our- 
selves. Any  general  judgment  into  which  others 
enter  as  elements  of  the  problem  is  above  us  as 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  I  29 

individuals.  We  cannot  be  entirely  sure  of  doing 
it  with  perfect  justice.  Of  course,  we  must  per- 
form some  moral  judgments  on  our  own  actions 
within  ourselves.  As  we  have  seen,  there  can  be 
no  moral  character  without  it.  But  in  relation  to 
others,  and  especially  when  our  personal  feeling 
enters  into  the  problem,  the  Saviour  says  "Judge 
not."  Refrain  from  it.  Be  afraid 
that  your  egoism  will  vitiate  the  re-  Matt.  7  :  1 
suits.  Be  cautious,  for  fear  you  will 
be  unjust  and  uncharitable.  In  order  to  be  a  real 
judge  you  must  stand  on  a  level  above  individu- 
ality as  the  Saviour  does.  This  you  may  do  to  a 
degree,  but  it  will  always  be  imperfectly,  so  that 
the  work  you  do  in  that  kind  will  always  have 
elements  of  injustice  which  you  cannot  see. 

If,  then,  we  cannot  entirely  rise  to  the  level  of 
God's  judgments  and  abide  there,  we  can  only  do 
the  next  best  thing.  We  can  learn  as  far  as  pos- 
sible to  consider  things  from  each  other's  point  of 
view.  Not  the  level  that  is  higher  than  either  of 
us  is  entirely  attainable  by  individuals,  but  the  po- 
sition that  is  common  to  both  of  us.  By  the  love 
of  my  neighbor  I  may  learn  to  weigh  aright  his 
moral  judgments.  My  egoism  must  remain,  but 
I  can  broaden  it  so  as  in  a  sense  to  include  his. 
I  may  not  see  the  landscape  in  wide-open  view 
from  the  high  post  of  observation,  but  I  may  see  it 
from  a  multitude  of  different  restricted  points,  and 
by  the  spirit  of  Christ  be  able  to  form  a  pretty  good 
conception  of  it.  This  shall  affect  my  action  and 
make  me  charitable ;  but  even  thus  I  do  not  pre- 
sume in  any  extensive  way  to  set  up  as  a  judge. 

I 


130    MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

Remaining  individuals  then,  as  we  must,  we  need 
to  apply  certain  correctives  to  our  wa3's  of  looking 
at  things.  If  we  insist  on  seeing  only  our  side  of 
any  affair  between  us  and  our  neighbor,  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  get  at  even  so  correct  a  view  as  is 
attainable  within  the  bounds  of  our  individuality. 
We  shall  think  only  of  our  own  selfish  wishes,  and 
shall  be  censorious  because  our  neighbor  does  not 
recognize  them  as  we  do.  We  shall  feel  like  de- 
manding recognition  for  merits  of  which  we  may 
be  conscious,  but  which  have  never  come  abroad 
so  as  to  do  anybody  any  good.  It  will  be  the  great 
/  going  forth  into  the  world,  and  demanding  the 
same  respect  from  other  men  which  it  has  for 
itself.  It  will  be  the  man,  not  conscious  of  his 
faults  by  which  other  men  suffer,  because  he  has 
ways  of  excusing  them  to  himself,  and  yet  at  the 
same  time  well  alive  to  the  faults  of  his  neighbor, 
without  his  neighbor's  excusing  consciousness — 
and  this  man  demanding  that  all  estimations  of  his 
own  and  his  neighbor's  relative  merits  shall  be  by 
his  measure  and  no  other.  Thus  acting,  men  be- 
come selfish  and  oppressive.  They  judge  harshly. 
They  condemn  cruelly.  There  is  no  getting  on 
common  ground  so  as  to  compose  any  difficulty 
which  may  arise  between  neighbors.  Men  must, 
therefore,  learn  to  use  certain  correctives  in  their 
estimation  of  affairs  between  themselves  and  their 
neighbors.  Just  as  the  astronomer  cannot  get  to 
the  center  of  the  universe  to  observe  the  heav- 
enly bodies  in  their  true  relations,  and  hence  has 
to  make  corrections  from  his  standpoint  on  the 
earth  for  what  he  calls  parallax,  so  we  in  adjusting 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  I3I 

our  relations  to  our  neighbors  must  take  account  of 
that  parallax  which  is  the  result  of  our  egoism. 

The  first  corrective  consideration 
is  the  fact  that  we  must  submit  to    Ver.  1,  2 
the  same   judgment    that  we    give. 
Our  neighbor  has  his  way  of  viewing  things,  as 
well  as  we,  and  we  shall  be  judged  by  him  as  we 
judge  him.      "With  what  judgement  ye  judge,  ye 
shall  be  judged,  and  with  what  measure  ye  mete, 
it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again."     My  own  deal- 
ings I  have  estimated  by  my  standard,  but  let  me 
remember  that  these  must  go  through  the  opera- 
tion again  according  to  some  one's  else  standard. 
If  I  have  been  merciful,  I  have  done  much  to  make 
others  merciful  to  me.     If  I  have  been  strictly  fair, 
I  have  taken  the  surest  course  to  secure  fair  play 
for  myself.     If  I  have  tried  to  estimate  and  act 
upon  matters  as  they  would  appear  to  my  brother, 
I  have  forestalled  his  judgment  of  me.     I  expect 
only  that  which  it  is  his  disposition  to  give.     That 
is    all    I    demand.      I    refrain    from 
judging,  and   I  am  not  judged.      I    i  Cor.  u  :  31 
measure  with  liberal  allowances  for 
diverse  views,  and  I  receive  the  same  measure.      I 
give  good  measure,  pressed  down  and  running  over, 
and  men  can  hardly  help  giving  me  the  same. 

Have  you  ever  met  men  who  have  a  perpetual 
grievance  against  society .-"  Some  men  always  have 
something  to  be  dissatisfied  about.  Somebody  is 
forever  getting  unfair  advantages  over  them,  or 
trying  to  crowd  them  to  the  wall.  It  seems  as  if 
they  happened  in  life  to  fall  in  with  the  worst  lot 
of  neighbors  any  one  ever  had.     Their  grocer  and 


132  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

their  butcher  cheat  them,  and  their  plumber  grows 
rich  by  them,  and  the  government  taxes  them 
to  death,  and  the  whole  world  is  banded  against 
them.  They  are  all  the  time  fighting  a  hostile 
alliance  and  beating  back  attack.  Now  )ou  do 
not  hear  all  men  complain  in  this  way.  What 
is  the  matter.''  It  is  largely  in  the  man  himself. 
He  is  constantly  demanding  and  expecting  as 
his  right  more  than  his  neighbors  can  give.  He 
looks  only  on  his  own  side  of  things,  and  thus  he 
seems  to  himself  to  be  the  worst-treated  of  men. 
He  suspects  everybody,  and  where  he- suspects  he 
finds.  Indeed,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  many  of  his 
neighbors  feel  as  if  a  man  so  exacting  were  their 
lawful  prey,  if  they  can  only  get  the  better  of  him. 
They  know  him  to  be  on  the  watch  for  the  best 

hold  upon  them,  and  human  nature 
Matt.  26  :  52    prompts    them   to   retaliate.     Jesus 

says,  "  They  that  take  the  sword 
shall  perish  with  the  sword."  When  you  are 
armed  you  must  expect  to  be  treated  as  an  armed 
man.  But  let  this  man  who  is  so  ill-treated  be- 
come a  merciful,  charitable,  generous  man,  he  will 
soon  find  then  that  his  neighbors  have  become 
different  from  what  they  were.  It  is  not  only 
because  they  are  actually  different  toward  him, 
but  because  he  sees  them  differently.  He  applies 
the  corrective  to  his  observation  of  things,  namely, 
that  it  is  only  fair  that  he  should  be  judged  by  the 
judgment  with  which  he  judges  ;  and  he  finds  that 
the  correction  evens  up  the  equation,  and  makes 
his  estimation  of  himself  and  his  neighbor  much 
more  just  and  satisfactory. 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  133 

Then    Jesus    points    out   the   ab- 
surdity of  a   man  with  a  beam   of    Ver.  3-5 
wood  in  his  own  eye,  going  to  his 
brother  and  saying,  "  Let  me  take  the  mote  out 
of  thine  eye."     The  saying  has  become  a  proverb. 
It  is  portable ;  we  can  carry  it  in  our  memory  and 
introduce  it  as  a  formula  into  our  moral  figuring. 
"  First  cast  out  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye,  and 
then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote 
out  of  thy  brother's  eye." 

The  first  corrective  for  egoism 
therefore  is.  Remember  that  you  Ver.  6 
must  submit  to  the  same  judgment 
which  you  give.  Now  the  next  piece  of  advice  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  each  of  us  has  a  different  in- 
dividuality is,  that  we  are  to  consider  the  character 
of  the  receiver  when  we  bestow  anything.  This 
fact  that  we  each  have  a  diffei-ent  outlook  makes  it 
impossible  to  bestow  gifts  indiscriminately  and  ex- 
pect a  uniformity  of  effect.  What  is  a  grateful 
present  to  one  may  be  an  insult  to  another.  What 
is  kindly  meant  may  rightly  produce  offense  when 
seen  through  the  other's  eyes.  The  habit  of  hav- 
ing a  living,  active  sympathy  with  others,  by  which 
we  may  justly  divine  their  feelings,  will  guard  u.s, 
not  only  from  harsh  judgments,  but  from  stupid 
benefactions.  You  have  seen  people  with  the 
kindest  hearts  and  the  most  unselfish  dispositions 
who  are  always  getting  somebody  offended  with 
them.  They  do  kindnesses  stupidly,  and  without 
considering  what  the  kindnesses  are  to  the  receiver. 
Closely  akin  to  this  is  that  not  uncommon  fatuity 
in  society  of  introducing  pleasantries  or  witticisms 


134  MAGNA  CHAKTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

which  to  another  than  the  speaker's  preoccupied 
perception  are  ridiculous  or  embarrassing,  a  fault 
which  results  from  a  deficiency  in  the  sense  of 
humor,  which  is  only  another  name  for  lack  of 
sympathy.  Still  another  form  of  egoistic  stupidity 
is  the  dull  iteration  in  public  address  of  arguments 
or  observations  totally  removed  from  the  sphere  of 
thought  to  which  the  hearer  is  accustomed.  Such 
didactic  effort  may  result  from  a  genuine  desire  to 
impart  a  benefit,  and  yet  the  person's  absorbed 
egoism  keeps  him  from  getting  on  common  ground 
with  the  person  to  be  taught.  That  which  we  call 
culture  and  good-breeding  has  as  one  of  its  surest 
signs  the  disposition  which  can  enter  into  all  shades 
of  feeling,  and  consider  what  shall  make  those 
happy  around  us.  We  call  this  trait  tact.  It  is  a 
trait  well  worthy  of  being  encouraged  as  it  is  in 
the  Saviour's  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

The  second  corrective,  then,  in  view  of  the  fact 
of  egoism,  is  that  we  are  to  consider  the  position 
of  the  receiver  when  we  give.  This  also  is  stated 
in  proverbial  form,  and  in  such  a  striking  way  that 
none  can  fail  to  remember  it.  "  Give  not  that 
which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither  cast  your 
pearls  before  the  swine,  lest  haply  they  trample 
them  under  their  feet,  and  turn  and  rend  you." 

But  now  a  third  truth  comes  in, 
Ver.  7-12  which  is  simply  the  other  side  of 
what  has  just  been  said.  All  through 
this  discourse  on  egoism  runs  the  principle.  Turn 
about  and  apply  your  rule  from  the  other  side.  So 
this  rule,  "  Give  not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the 
dogs,"  is  to  be  turned  about.     We  must  apply  it 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  1 35 

to  ourselves.      If  those  who  do  not  appreciate  nor 
desire  them  are  not  to  have  unwise  gifts  from  us, 
remember  that  it  would  be  equally  unwise  for  God 
to  give  us  spiritual  gifts  if  we  do  not  appreciate 
nor  want    them.     This   is   especially  true  of   the 
highest  gifts.      We  may  expect  God 
to  give  his  best  things — and  Luke    Luke  ii  :  13 
has  it,  liis  Spirit — only  as  we  want 
them  and  ask  for  them.      We  receive  only  as  we 
appreciate.     This  is  the  rule  we  are  to   heed    in 
giving  :  we  must  expect  to  abide  by  the  same  in 
receiving. 

"Ask,"  says  the  Saviour,  "and  it 
shall   be  given   you  ;    seek,  and  ye    Ver.  7,  8 
shall    find  ;    knock,  and  it  shall  be 
opened  unto  you."    This  may  be  taken  as  a  prom- 
ise that  the  one  who  asks  shall  receive  ;  but  it  is 
especially  to  be  taken,  as  I  believe,  as  a  statement 
of  the  condition  of  receiving,  as  much  as  to  say  : 
"  How  can  you  expect  to  receive  unless  you  ask .-' 
You  are  not  fit  for  the  gift  unless  you  want  it.     It 
is  the  one  who  asketh  that  receiveth,  the  one  who 
seeketh    that    findeth.      If  you  do  not  desire  the 
things  given,  you  would  run  the  risk  of  being  like 
the  swine  before  which  pearls  are  cast.    You  would 
be  none  the  better  for  the  gift,  and  it  would  be 
unwise  in  God  or  man  to  give  it  to  you." 

This  is  true  especially  in  spiritual  things  ;  and 
in  these  the  saying  as  a  promise  is  also  abundantly 
true.  Those  who  ask  for  the  highest  and  truest 
gifts  will  receive  them.  In  the  kingdom  of  God 
we  are  in  a  kingdom  where  the  very  desiring  of  the 
thing  brings  it.     The  desiring  fits  us  for  the  thing 


136    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

desired,  and  when  we  are  fitted  for  the  Spirit  we 
have  it.  That  is  what  it  is  to  have  God's  Spirit, 
namely,  to  be  where  we  want  God  in  all  his  good- 
ness to  rule  us.  To  want  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to 
want  what  the  Father  is  waiting  to  give.  It  is 
only  the  sign  of  appreciation — hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness — which  he  is  waiting  to  see. 
The  very  wishing  is  the  condition  of  getting. 

The  kingdom  of  God  is  the  kingdom  of  prayer. 
It  is  the  kingdom  where  things  are  got  for  the 
asking.  In  the  kingdom  of  nature,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  often  find  outward  conditions  inexorably 
opposed  to  our  receiving.  Under  the  action  of 
laws  of  economics  and  of  society  we  often  find  un- 
fortunate hindrances  which  frustrate  all  our  plan- 
ning. In  this  lower  realm  of  God's  ruling  the  only 
way  to  be  fortunate  is  to  conform  to  unchangeable 
laws.  If  we  are  debarred  from  doing  this  we  must 
submit  to  the  consequences.  There  is  no  begging 
off.  We  must  console  ourselves  with  some  higher 
good  which  comes  in  another  way.  We  may  trust 
God  for  what  we  need.  He  knoweth  that  we  have 
need  of  these  things.  But  to  be  miraculously  free 
from  laws  of  nature  and  of  society  is  more  than 
we  can  expect.  Howbeit,  a  higher  good  is  in  store 
for  us,  which  we  may  have  for  the  asking.  It  is 
nothing  less  than  the  blessedness  of  the  Beatitudes. 
Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteous- 
ness, and  it  shall  be  an  abundant  recompense  for 
the  lack  of  earthly  good  fortune.  In  this  higher 
realm  gifts  are  brought  by  prayer.  Prayer  is  but 
the  appropriating  of  the  gift.  The  spirit  makes  its 
own  blessedness  by  its  faith  and  its  earnest  desire. 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  137 

That  is  to  say,  as  we  go  up  higher  in  spiritual 
things,  we  come  more  and  more  into  a  region 
where  the  spirit  makes  its  own  world  by  its  adap- 
tation and  desire.  We  look  forward  to  heaven  as 
a  place  of  perfect  adaptations.  It  is  the  place 
where  the  spirit  has  become  perfectly  free ;  it 
wants  what  it  has,  and  it  has  what  it  wants.  The 
progress  of  all  development  is  toward  the  suprem- 
acy of  free  spirit.  The  lower  creation  is  entirely 
under  the  rule  of  necessity.  It  moves  as  it  is 
moved  upon.  The  beast  begins  to  show  some 
working  of  freedom  in  its  actions ;  but  this  is 
under  the  bondage  of  the  species,  so  that  he 
makes  no  progress,  nor  do  we  account  his  actions 
responsible.  The  man  has,  to  a  responsible  de- 
gree, freedom  of  will,  being  centrally  that  created 
form  of  spirit  which  we  call  soul ;  and  yet  with  the 
influences  and  limitations  of  his  environment  his 
freedom  is  not  perfect.  Much  that  he  wants  he 
must  go  without,  and  often  his  wished-for  develop- 
ment is  hindered  by  adverse  fortune.  He  frets 
under  the  hard  conditions  of  his  life.  He  is 
always  wanting  more,  and  he  is  conscious  of  a 
hard  necessity  which  keeps  him  down,  so  that  he 
cannot  be  all  that  he  desires  to  be.  He  often  finds 
himself  in  conditions  which  are  not  adapted  to  his 
nature  and  tastes,  and  yet  he  can  only  chafe  un- 
der them. 

But  there  is  a  higher  realm  into  which  he  can 
enter  by  prayer.  This  is  the  realm  in  which  his 
spirit  lays  hold  of  its  freedom.  It  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  He  may  have  it  by  wanting  it.  He 
asks,  and    he    receives ;    he  seeks,  and    he   finds. 


138  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

Thus  as  he  goes  on  higher  and  higher  in  spiritual 
things,  he  makes  his  own  world.  All  things  work 
together  for  his  good.  May  we  not  believe  that 
heaven  is  the  world  where  all  these  truths  are  fully 
realized,  and  we  find  ourselves  perfectly  adapted 
to  our  world,  because  our  spirits  have  created  their 
world  by  what  they  are  and  seek  .-*  We  need  not 
be  solicitous  about  our  surroundings  in  heaven. 
Only  be  solicitous  as  to  what  you  are,  and  your 
surroundings  will  be  simply  what  you  desire  as 
sons  of  the  heavenly  Father.  You  desire  above 
all  things  his  Spirit,  and  this  he  is  more  than  pa- 
rentally willing  to  give. 

The  disposition  of  our  heavenly 
Ver.  11  t^ather  as.snres  us  in  this  matter. 
There  is  a  little  realm  of  things  here 
below  which  is  something  like  heaven  in  this  re- 
gard. It  is  the  loving  family.  If  we  are  fathers, 
we  know  how  it  is.  Do  we  give  a  stone  to  our  child 
who  asks  for  bread  .-'  And  yet  we  are  evil,  and  do 
not  always  act  in  perfect  love  even  toward  our 
children.  Shall  not  God  much  more  give  good 
things  to  them  that  ask  him  .''  It  is  thus  that 
Jesus  teaches  us,  by  the  tenderest  and  most  un- 
selfish relation  into  which  we  can  enter,  to  con- 
ceive in  some  degree  what  is  our  heavenly  Father's 
disposition  toward  his  children  who  seek  the  high- 
est things. 

But  all  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  principle 
with  which  the  discourse  set  out,  that  it  is  what 
we  are  individually  which  regulates  our  receiving, 
whether  in  judgment  of  character  or  in  good  gifts. 
It  is  what  the  recipient  is  which  must  regulate  our 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  139 

giving  to  him.  Jesus  is  simply  stopping  for  a  mo- 
ment to  point  out  that  world  where  the  principle 
applies  perfectly.  The  world  of  free  spirit  is  that 
world.  All  men  are  not  treated  alike  ;  all  are  not 
judged  alike,  nor  do  all  receive  good  gifts  alike. 
Yet  this  discrimination  is  no  "respect  of  persons"  : 
men  receive  as  they  are  fitted  to  receive.  It  is 
their  egoism  which  makes  the  difference — that  is 
to  say,  the  fact  that  they  have  their  way  of  looking 
at  things  which  no  one  else  has,  nor  can  any  one 
perfectly  enter  into  it  so  as  to  share  their  con- 
sciousness. 

In   dealing  with    our    fellow-men,  however,  we 
cannot  act  just  as  God  does.     That  is,  we  cannot 
always  bestow  just  as  we  see  the  person  deserves 
and  can  appreciate  ;  for  we  do  not  see  clearly  into 
his  heart.      God  who  sees  our  hearts  with  perfect 
clearness  can  give  to  his  children   his  best  gifts 
just  as  they  are  fitted  for  them.     But  we  with  our 
fellow-men  can  only  do  the  next  best  thing.      And 
here  comes  the  general  rule  which, 
in  view  of  our  inability  to  dispense    yg^.^  12 
absolute  justice,  is  to  regulate  our 
conduct  with  others.      It  is  the  Golden  Rule  which 
solves  the  difficulties  of  egoism — a  rule   so   true 
and    so  just  that  no  man  can  help  admiring  it, 
whether  he  puts  it  in  practice  or  not.      If  ail  men 
acted  in  accordance  with  it  society  would  be  far 
less  unstable  and  apprehensive  than  it  is.     "  As  ye 
would  that  men   should  do  to  you, 
do  ye  also  to  them  likewise  " — this    Luke  6  :  31 
sums  up  all  that  is  excellent  in  the 
law  and  the  prophets.      Think  how  you  would  like 


I40  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

to  be  dealt  with  if  you  were  in  your  neighbor's 
stead.  Let  imagination  and  sympathy  enter  into 
the  problem.  "  Put  yourself  in  his  place,"  and  you 
shall  find  all  these  difficulties  between  one  individ- 
uality and  another  solved,  as  well  as  reciprocal  hu- 
man judgments,  distinguished  from  absolute  jus- 
tice, can  solve  them. 

We  may  see  this  fact,  that  the  progress  of  the 
world  in  real  goodness  since  Christ's  time,  as  Mr. 
Lecky  has  pointed  out,  has  been  marked  by  the 
development  of  the  imagination.  I  mean  that 
imagination  which  makes  men  sympathetic,  that 
imagination  which  makes  them  shudder  at  cruelty 
because  they  have  learned  to  put  themselves  in  the 
injured  being's  place.  It  is  the  working,  in  short, 
of  the  spirit  of  the  Golden  Rule  which  brings  the 
world  toward  the  victorious  kingdom  of  Christ. 
The  most  unmistakable  sign  of  advancement  in  the 
world  is  that  brutality  is  gradually  dying  out.  It 
is  banished  to  the  secret  places  and  to  the  lower 
ranks  of  life.  Men  learn  to  shudder  and  pity,  and 
they  are  not  ashamed  of  it.  Under  the  influence 
of  Christianity  the  public  gladiator  contest  and  the 
wild  beast  fight  fell  into  desuetude  long  ago.  It 
is  difficult  to  imagine  a  state  of  society  in  which 
the  most  cultivated  people,  even  tenderly  nurtured 
ladies,  exulted  in  scenes  of  carnage  which  would 
make  our  blood  run  cold.  People  do  not  take  de- 
light in  cruelty  as  they  once  did.  War  is  not 
looked  upon  as  a  normal  state  of  things.  The 
duel  is  ridiculed  ;  the  pugilistic  encounter  evades 
the  police.  Even  the  beasts  are  counted  as  having 
rights,  and  we  form  and  maintain  our  societies  for 


CORRECTIVES    OF    EGOISM  I4I 

the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals.  A  thousand 
different  ways  of  relieving  distress,  preventing  ig- 
norance, vagrancy,  suffering,  and  crime,  enlist  the 
sympathies  of  men.  This  is  destined  to  be  so 
more  and  more  ;  and  it  is  all  in  proportion  as  men 
cultivate  the  imagination  so  as  to  pity  others,  as 
they  put  themselves  in  their  place. 

Yet  we  must  pray  that  this  Golden  Rule  may 
yet  fill  a  much  wider  place  in  society.  Far  from 
perfect  is  the  submission  of  men  to  its  mild  sway. 
Let  us  for  our  part  act  in  all  our  dealings  accord- 
ing to  its  guidance.  We  shall  solve  the  difficulties 
of  our  reciprocal  relations  as  individuals  if  we 
always  remember  to  imagine  how  we  should  like 
it  if  positions  were  reversed,  and  as  we  would  that 
men  should  do  unto  us,  to  do  even  so  unto  them. 


VII 
THE  SUSCEPTIBILITY  OF  OBEDIENCE 


Matt.  7  .•  13-2"/ 


VII 


Enter  ye  in  by  the  narrow  gate  :  for  wide  is  the  gate,  and 
broad  is  the  way,  that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many  be  they 
that  enter  in  thereby.  For  narrow  is  the. gate  and  straitened  the 
way,  that  leadetli  unto  life,  and  few  be  tliey  that  find  it. 

Beware  of  false  prophets,  which  come  to  you  in  sheep's 
clothing,  but  inwardly  are  ravening  wolves.  By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them.  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of 
thistles  ?  Even  so  every  good  tree  bringeth  forth  good  fruit  ;  but 
the  corrupt  tree  bringeth  forth  evil  fruit.  A  good  tree  cannot 
bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither  can  a  corrupt  tree  bring  forth  good 
fruit.  Every  tree  that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is  hewn  down 
and  cast  into  the  fire.  Therefore  by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them.  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me.  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven.  Many  will  say  to  me  in  that  day, 
I^ord,  Lord,  did  we  not  prophesy  by  thy  name,  and  by  thy  name 
cast  out  devils,  and  by  thy  name  do  many  mighty  works  ?  And 
then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you  :  depart  from  me 
ye  that  work  iniquity.  Every  one  therefore  which  heareth  these 
words  of  mine,  and  doeth  them,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  wise  man 
which  built  his  house  upon  the  rock  :  and  the  rain  descended, 
and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that 
house  ;  and  it  fell  not  :  for  it  was  founded  upon  the  rock.  And 
every  one  that  heareth  these  words  of  mine,  and  doeth  them  not, 
shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  which  built  his  house  upon 
the  sand  :  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and  the 
winds  blew,  and  smote  upon  that  house;  and  it  fell  :  and  great 
was  the  fall  thereof. 

Our  Saviour  began  this  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
by  throwing  open  the  gates  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  so  that  any  one  could  enter  in.  The  very 
humblest  and  least  meritorious  could  possess  him- 
self of  the  righteousness  described  in  the  Beati- 
tudes.     It   was   a   righteousness  which    came    by 

K  145 


146  MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

aspiring  and  reaching  upward,  rather  than  by 
meriting.  He  who  was  conscious  of  his  poverty 
of  spirit,  who  kept  his  heart  single  and  pure,  who 
longed  after  righteousness,  who  made  something 
higher  than  the  praise  of  men  the  test  of  his  god- 
liness, was  in  the  way  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
How  hospitable  and  accessible  seems  that  kingdom 
after  we  have  read  and  appropriated  the  words  : 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,"  "Blessed  are  they 
that  mourn,"  "  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,"  "  Blessed  are  the 
meek."  To  open  the  way  for  such  righteousness 
as  this  is  to  make  the  kingdom  of  heaven  a 
kingdom  of  grace ;  it  is  to  found  all  heavenly 
attainment  on  the  principle  that  the  just  shall 
live  by  faith — that  is,  inward  and  trustful  cleav- 
ing to  eternal  good — rather  than  by  the  deeds  of 
the  law. 

But  now  an  apparently  inconsist- 
Ver.  13  14  ^"^  fact  presents  itself.  The  way 
of  life  so  generously  thrown  open  is 
really  a  narrow  way.  But  few  find  it.  The  broad 
way  to  destruction,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  way  that 
is  thronged.  This  is  a  fact  for  which  Christian 
doctrine  is  not  responsible.  Not  the  Bible  alone 
recognizes  it,  but  all  religions,  and  all  enlightened 
observation.  It  is  one  of  the  commonplaces  of 
human  thought  that  the  way  to  real  excellence  is 
trodden  by  but  few.  We  see  multitudes  of  men 
in  all  parts  of  our  populous  world  whose  lives  em- 
body those  elements  of  falsehood,  hatred,  animal- 
ity,  and  vice  which  we  know  cannot  produce  bless- 
edness.    We  see  many  lives  which  are  kept  only 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIENCE  1 47 

by  temporary  hindrances  from  a  natural  fate  of 
fiery  ruin.  Despite  the  universal  and  hospitable 
truth  that  the  poor  in  spirit  may  evermore  have 
eternal  life  for  the  wishing  and  believing,  but  few 
enter  and  pursue  the  upward  path,  while  the  broad 
way  that  leads  to  destruction  is  full  of  heedless 
travelers. 

One  great  reason  for  this  very  general  fact  is 
that  the  many  never  seek  the  way  of  life.  They 
are  never  awakened  to  the  desire  for  the  goodness 
and  blessedness  of  heaven.  They  are  drifting; 
they  are  going  a  road  which  it  requires  no  moral 
effort  to  pursue.  The  many  who  have  no  high 
purpose,  who  see  no  eternal  goal  to  strive  for,  who 
abandon  themselves  to  their  natural  and  baser  de- 
sires, easily  travel  the  broad  road.  No  one  has 
had  to  make  effort  to  get  them  started  in  this 
way.  No  one  has  had  to  drill  and  discipline 
them  in  the  lore  of  wickedness.  It  has  seemed 
to  come  of  itself ;  these  men  have  been  left  to 
go  the  road  which,  without  moral  training  and 
self-control,  their  lower  self  naturally  takes.  They 
have  not  found  the  strait  gate  because  they  have 
not  sought  it. 

But  the  class  with  which  this  section  of  the 
Lord's  discourse  especially  concerns  itself  are  those 
who  seek  the  way  and  miss  it.  The  most  pathetic 
failure  to  obtain  eternal  life  is  the  failure  of  those 
who  strive  to  enter  in.  "Narrow  is  the  gate,  and 
straitened  the  way,  that  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few 
be  they  that  find  it."  It  is  because  the  way  is  not 
found,  though  sought,  rather  than  because  it  is 
ignored,  that  these  people  are  lost.     As  Luke  re- 


148  MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

ports  this  saying  it  reads:  "Many 
Luke  13  :  24    shall  scck  to  enter  in,  and  shall  not 

be  able."  There  is  a  foreshadowing 
of  that  memorable  Jewish  rejection  of  the  Son  of 
God  which  nailed  him  to  the  cross ;  we  catch  the 
premonitory  sound  of  that  wail  from  Olivet:   "If 

thou  hadst   known  in  this  day,  even 
Luke  19  :  42    thou,  the  things  which  belong  unto 

peace!  but  now  they  are  hid  from 
thine  eyes."  Israel,  following  after  a  law  of  right- 
eousness, did  not  arrive  at  that  law,  because  of  a 

certain   blindness  or  insusceptibility 
Rom.  9:31    by  which  the  striving  of  centuries 

of  type  and  prophecy  at  last  missed 
its  end. 

The  gateway  is  indeed  narrow ;  the  germ  of 
character  which  is  sure  to  expand  into  acceptance 
with  God  is  fitted  in  its  beginning  to  ta.x  our  dis- 
cernment. But  if  that  germ  in  its  development 
expands  into  hearing  these  sayings  of  Christ  and 
doing  them,  we  may  be  assured  that  the  person 
has  begun  aright.  What  then  is  that  initial  trait 
which  constitutes  susceptibility  to  the  kingdom  of 
God.'  As  entrance  to  a  kingdom,  submission  to  a 
control,  it  must  be  some  kind  of  obedience.  But 
it  is  an  obedience,  be  it  observed,  which  the  most 
scrupulous  and  dev^oted  nation  of  the  world  failed 
to  comprehend,  whose  most  common  abuse,  ac- 
cording to  the  Saviour's  warning  in  these  ver.ses, 
produces  the  false  prophet  and  the  deluded  won- 
der-worker confiding  in  his  own  exhilaration,  and 
whose  final  achievement  is  outward  deeds  in  con- 
formity to  Christ's  teachings.     Obedience  as  mere 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIENCE  I49 

observance  of  detailed  precepts  does  not  work  in 
this  way.  It  touches  no  deep  spring  of  being  and 
opens  no  barred  gate.  But  the  genuine  obedience 
which  this  whole  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  set  to 
inculcate  does  answer  to  just  these  tests  and  just 
these  liabilities  to  abuse,  as  will  be  seen  when  it 
is  a  little  more  clearly  defined. 

I.  Obedience,  which  is  described  as  a  narrow 
gate,  would  at  first  sight  seem  to  mean  that  which 
is  extremely  exacting  in  its  requirements,  which 
produces  a  very  distinct  sense  of  the  pressure  of 
the  higher  will,  and  which  issues  in  a  very  nar- 
rowly defined  and  strait-laced  manner  of  life.  The 
command,  "Enter  ye  in  at  the  narrow  gate,"  would 
thus  mean,  "  Observe  the  strictest  and  most  irre- 
proachable prmciples  of  conduct."  With  this  idea, 
the  more  self-denial  and  crucifying  of  the  will  there 
is  in  the  life,  the  more  sure  is  it  of  conforming  to 
the  kingdom  of  God.  The  perfection  of  God's 
ascendency  over  us  would  be  marked  by  the  great- 
est possible  power  to  make  us  do  what  we  do  not 
want  to  do  and  sacrifice  what  is  most  costly  and 
dear. 

But  it  does  not  appear  that  the  special  glory  of 
Christianity  is  the  abundance  or  severity  of  its 
feats  of  self-crucifixion.  In  fact,  much  more  mar- 
velous achievements  in  that  kind  belong  to  heathen 
religions.  From  the  earliest  ages  men  have  sought 
to  enter  into  peace  by  costly  sacrifices  and  have 
not  been  able.  It  was  genuine  enlightenment 
from  the  Spirit  of  God  which  taught  the  psalmist 
to  say,  in  token  of  victory  over  those  haunting, 
superstitious  notions:  "For  thou  delightest  not  in 


150  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

sacrifice ;  else  would  I  give  it :  thou 
Ps.  51  :  16,  17    hast  no  pleasure  in  burnt  offering. 
The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken 
spirit :  a  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  thou 
wilt  not  despise."     It  was  the  light  of  true  relig- 
ious sanity  which  enabled  the  ancient  prophet  to 
say :  "  Wherewith   shall  I  come  be- 
Micah  6  :  6-8    fore  the  Lord,  and  bow  myself  be- 
fore the  high  God.?     Shall  I  come 
before  him  with  burnt  offerings,  with  calves  of  a 
year  old .''     Will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with  thou- 
sands of  rams,  or  with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of 
oil.''     Shall   I   give  my  firstborn  for  my  transgres- 
sion, the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul  ? 
He  hath  shewed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good ;  and 
what  doth  the   Lord  require  of  thee,   but  to  do 
justly,   and   to  love  mercy,   and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God?"     The  progress  from  false  to  true 
religion  seems  everywhere  to  be  marked,  not  by 
the  increase  of  marvels  of  self-immolation,  but  by 
the  more  rational  apprehension  of  the  nature  of 
God. 

Nor  does  mere  strictness  of  law-keeping  consti- 
tute the  narrowness  of  the  way.  This  was  the 
idea  which  the  Pharisees  had,  those  people  who, 
with  the  most  glorious  heritage  of  preparation, 
most  ingloriously  failed  to  find  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Their  thought  of  obedience  was  that  its 
special  value  was  in  its  pressure  on  the  will.  Ob- 
servance must  be  so  strictly  prescribed  that  its 
interferences  with  the  ordinary  conduct  shall  be 
felt.  With  this  idea,  their  Sabbath,  which  was  in 
its  nature  a  day  of  rest  and  freedom,  could  have 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIENCE  I5I 

no  acceptance  with  God  except  by  a  minute  arbi- 
trariness which  made  it  a  day  of  constraint  and 
bondage.  Indeed,  their  minuteness  of  supervision 
over  the  life  overshot  its  mark  and 
produced  a  hypocrisy  and  insincerity  Matt.  23  :  28 
which  was  the  greatest  obstacle  to 
the  Saviour's  influence.  It  all  grew  Luke  12  :  i 
out  of  the  notion  that  obedience  be- 
gins with  observance,  and  finds  its  end  and  glory 
in  the  greatest  pressure  on,  and  interference  with, 
the  will.  But,  according  to  the  teaching  of  Christ, 
the  narrowness  of  the  portal  is  seen,  especially  in 
that  it  requires  a  peculiar  sharing  in  the  mind  of 
God  to  find  it.  The  value  of  obedience  is  attested, 
not  by  how  many  difficult  things  the  person  will 
be  willing  to  do,  but  how  intelligent  he  is  in  dis- 
covering what  God  requires  of  him.  Christ  does 
not  labor  especially  to  produce  scrupulousness,  nor 
does  he  begin  with  burdensome  commands,  he 
awakens  boundless  hope  and  aspiration.  But  a 
certain  spiritual  discernment  is  necessary  in  order 
that  one  may  find  the  way.  It  is  so  narrow  that 
it  may  be  missed  by  the  anxious  devotee,  so  hum- 
ble that  the  proud  overlook  it.  Not  the  strictest 
external  obedience  insures  the  acceptance  of  God 
so  long  as  this  rightness  of  spiritual  discernment 
is  wanting. 

The  initial  command  of  the  king- 
dom   of    heaven    is,  "Repent."     If    Matt.  3  :  i ; 
God  does  not  delight  in  costly  sacri-        4  ■  17 
fice,  he  does  accept  a  contrite  heart. 
And  this  repentance  is  more  than  mere  sorrow  for 
sin ;  it  is  the  coming  to  be  of  a  new  mind.     Mat- 


152  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

thew  Arnold  has  made  the  word  ^'  mctanoia'  the 
subject  of  one  of  his  happy  translations.  He  says  : 
"  We  translate  it  repoitajicc,  a  mourning  and  la- 
menting over  one's  sins,  and  we  translate  it  wrong. 
Of  'mctanoia,'  as  Jesus  used  the  word,  the  lament- 
ing one's  sins  was  a  small  part ;  the  main  part  was 
something  far  more  active  and  fruitful,  the  setting 
up  an  immense  new  inward  movement  for  obtain- 
ing the  rule  of  life.  And  ^victanoia,'  accordingly, 
is  a  change  of  the  inner  man."     Jesus  told  Nico- 

demus    that   a   man   must   be   born 
John  3  :  3    again  in  order  to  see  the  kingdom 

of  God ;  it  is  through  lack  of  this 
new  birth  that  men  fail  to  discover  the  narrow 
portal.  By  prayer  and  self-consecration  a  spirit  is 
acquired  which  is  no  less  than  a  sharing  in  the 

divine  mind,  and  Jesus  in  this  ser- 
ver. II    mon  says  that  God  is  more  willing 

to   give  this    spirit   in   response  to 
Luke  II  :  13    prayer  than   we   are  to   give    good 

gifts  to  our  children.  By  this  spirit, 
or  new  inner  man,  we  come  to  stand,  as  it  were, 
on  common  ground  with  God,  so  that  we  appre- 
hend his  nature  and  the  requirements  of  his  holi- 
ness. It  is  thus  that  we  enter  in,  thus  that  we 
appropriate  the  righteousness  of  the  Beatitudes 
without  our  enthusiasm  harming  us,  or  leading  us 
into  erratic  paths  of  sentimentalism  and  delusion. 

This  obedience  of  the  kingdom,  therefore,  arises 
from  the  possession  of  a  new  nature.  Its  com- 
pleteness is  marked,  not  so  much  by  conscious 
constraint  from  God's  will,  as  by  spontaneous, 
self-regulated  action  in  a  line  with  his  will.      It 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIENCE  I  53 

begins  in  religious  feeling.  Its  characteristic 
movement  is  the  seeking  of  blessedness,  of  ideal 
good.  It  embraces  a  righteousness  which  may  be 
had  by  asking,  by  persuading  one's  self  that  he 
has  it,  by  the  energy  of  faith.  Positive  precepts 
are  everywhere  interpreted  and  held  by  their  un- 
derlying principle  rather  than  by  their  letter;  and, 
indeed,  that  about  the  man  which  is  developed 
most  effectively  is  not  the  capacity  for  submission, 
but  the  law-making  power.  In  the  end  the  man 
becomes  a  law  unto  himself,  like  the  Son  of  Man, 
the  only  perfect  exponent  of  this  obedience,  not 
doing  his  own  will,  but  the  will  of  him  that  sent 
him,  and  yet  doing  this  divine  will  because  it  is 
his  own  nature. 

Such  a  spirit  must  be  embraced  while  it  is  unde- 
veloped in  the  soul.  Not  its  observances  but  its 
germ  is  the  first  thing  to  be  planted  in  the  heart. 
We  have  not  all  the  marks  for  discerning  it  in  its 
beginnings  which  appear  in  its  practical  outcome 
later  on.  The  greatest  circumspection  is  requisite 
at  the  portal ;  many  seek  the  way  and  do  not  find 
it.  The  test  is  in  the  development.  All  the  rest 
of  the  Saviour's  discourse,  therefore,  is  devoted  to 
the  very  essential  advice,  "Have  a  care  for  the 
fruits."  The  person  often  believes  he  is  born  again, 
in  the  only  way  in  which  he  can  determine  the  fact 
while  his  experience  is  undeveloped,  namely,  by 
feeling;  and  often  the  germ  thus  thought  to  be 
implanted  develops  into  something  very  different 
from  a  life  in  a  line  with  God's  will.  The  tree 
must  be  judged  by  its  fruit;  many  whose  feeling 
and  power  have  nourished   great  .  hopes  will   find 


154    MAGNA    CHAKTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

themselves  unrecognized  at  last,  and  the  only- 
proof  of  solidly  founded  character  is  the  final  out- 
come that  these  sayings  of  Jesus  are  rightly  heard 
and  practised. 

2.  But  an  obedience  which  begins 
Ver.  15-23  "^  emancipation  and  fervent  feeling 
has  its  characteristic  danger  or  cor- 
ruption. Many  who  even  strive  after  a  new  birth 
fail  to  find  the  narrow  way.  As  the  abuse  of  the 
merely  legal  obedience  produces  the  lifeless  and 
enslaving  college  of  scribes,  so  the  abuse  of  the 
impulse  for  ideal  blessedness  produces  the  false 
prophet  and  the  deluded  wonder-worker.  After 
setting  forth  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
it  is  but  natural  that  Jesus  should  point  out  the 
conditions  that  particularly  belong  to  such  a  king- 
dom. "  Beware  of  false  prophets,  which  come  to 
you  in  sheep's  clothing,  but  inwardly  are  ravening 
wolves.     By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

The  false  prophets  are  those  who  have  experi- 
enced something  of  the  warmth  and  glow  of  the 
kingdom,  but  are  not  renewed  in  heart.  Inwardly 
they  have  anything  rather  than  the  meek  and  lowly 
disposition  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  They  are  selfish 
and  violent,  like  ravening  wolves.  But  without 
they  are  arrayed  in  sheep's  clothing.  They  have 
become  sufficiently  versed  in  Christian  doctrine  so 
that  it  gives  them  a  fluency  of  speech  and  an  ex- 
altation of  the  intellect.  George  Eliot  remarks 
that  it  is  one  of  the  mixed  results  of  revivals  that 
some  gain  a  religious  vocabulary  rather  than  a  re- 
ligious experience.  It  is  not  hard  for  an  unsanc- 
tified  heart  to  be  really  animated  with  the  abstract 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIENCE  I  55 

truths  of  revelation.  He  may  see  their  cogency, 
their  nobleness,  their  self-evidencing  truth.  All 
this  may  awaken  his  admiration  ;  and  all  his  as- 
senting and  reasoning  powers  may  experience  a 
sense  of  exaltation  and  satisfaction.  His  admira- 
tion he  may  mistake  for  worship.  He  imbibes  the 
theory  of  Christianity  so  copiously  that  he  becomes 
a  prophet.  He  opens  his  mouth,  and  it  seems  like 
the  word  of  God  flowing  from  it,  so  fluent  and 
ready  is  his  mental  action  on  religious  themes. 
And  the  very  joy  he  experiences  in  setting  forth 
these  truths  may  deceive  him  into  thinking  he  is 
thereby  made  a  disciple  of  Christ.  The  very  adap- 
tation of  Christian  thought  to  his  reasoning  powers 
may  satisfy  and  elate  him,  when  he  knows  nothing 
of  the  saving  results  of  that  truth  in  his  life.  But 
Christian  doctrine  thus  taken  in  charge  and  dis- 
pensed by  a  corrupt  heart  is  sure  to  be  corrupted 
in  its  transmission  into  something  of  harmful  ten- 
dency; the  unsanctified  fountain  wells  up  in  false 
prophecy. 

This  characteristic  perversion  of 
Christian  inspiration  must  be  judged    Ver.  15-19 
by  its  fruits.      Men  do  not  gather 
grapes  of    thorns,   nor    figs  of    thistles.       If    you 
would  know  the  character  of  the  impulse  which 
thus  quickens  the  mental  powers  and  unlooses  the 
tongue,  observe  the  results.     They  will  be  as  in- 
variable as  the  fruit  from  the  tree.      "  A  good  tree 
cannot  bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither  can  a  corrupt 
tree  bring  forth  good  fruit."     That  ferment  of  in- 
spiring thought  and  feeling  which   produces  the 
movement  of  real  consecrated  activity,  may  also 


156    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

produce  in  the  false  heart  the  movement  of  erro- 
neous teaching.     Jesus  has  aheady 
Mau  5  :  19    pointed  out  the  one  who,  in  the  in- 
spiration of    the    kingdom,   teaches 
men  to  transgress  the  least  of  God's  recorded  pre- 
cepts, and  shows  how  he  is  rewarded  by  a  speedy 
lapse    into    insignificance.     But    even    those    who 
have  missed  the  narrow  portal  may  in  like  manner 
teach,  as  if  by  an  inspiring  spirit,  the  most  hurtful 
error ;  and  though  their  doctrine  cannot  stand,  yet 
during  its  brief  time  of  influence  it  may  lead  many 
astray  ;  so  that  it  is  the  most  obvious  wisdom  for 
the  disciple  to  beware  of  them. 

A  closely  related  product  of  per- 
Ver.  20-23    verted    religious   enthusiasm   is   the 
man  whose  sole  grcjund  of  rejoicing- 
is  that  he  works  wonders  in  Christ's  name.      Not 
every  one  who  says  to  Jesus,   Lord,   Lord,  shall 
enter   into   the   kingdom  of  heaven.     There  is  a 
certain  success  in  the   name  of    the  Lord  which 
may  be  attained  by  a  spirit  very  unlike  his.      Re- 
ligious success  or  fluency  is  not  in  itself  a  proof 
that  the  person  belongs  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
He  who  builds  all  his  joy  and  self-approval  on  his 
success  in  the  name  of  Christ  is  cultivating  a  very 
shallow  and  unspiritual  type  of  piety. 
Luke  10  :  20    Jesus   cautioned   the  Seventy  when 
they  returned  from  their  first  suc- 
cessful trip  of  healing  and  evangelizing,  even  while 
he  thanked  the  Father  with  them  that  the  demons 
were  subject  to  them  through  his  name,  not  to  re- 
joice because  the  spirits  were  subject  to  them,  but 
rather  to  rejoice  because  their  names  were  written 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIENCE  I  57 

in  heaven.  I  am  afraid  many  an  enthusiastic  Chris- 
tian worker  forgets  to  bring  all  his  plans  and  his 
enthusiasms  to  this  test,  and  falls  to  regulating  his 
work  solely  by  the  standard  of  success.  Remem- 
ber that  those  whom  Jesus  pronounces  blessed  are 
the  persecuted,  those  whose  lives,  to  superficial  ob- 
servation, exhibit  a  melancholy  failure  of  success. 
Jesus  pictures  a  group  at  the  last  day  saying  to 
him,  Lord,  Lord,  who  have  been  very  successful 
in  prophesying  and  in  all  wonder-working  in  his 
name,  but  who  have  nothing  in  common  with  his 
spirit,  and  whom  he  does  not  recognize  as  his 
friends.  We  may  well  be  admonished  to  look 
deeper  within  for  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  or  evidences 
that  we  are  in  the  way  of  life,  than  at  the  success- 
ful work  which  we  may  do,  in  a  world  so  easily  led 
away  by  false  teachers,  even  in  the  name  of  Christ. 

But  all  these  perversions  must  be  judged  in 
their  development  rather  than  in  their  germ.  The 
religious  feeling  is  the  beginning  of  true  obedience, 
but  it  is  not  so  distinctive  in  its  character  as  to  be 
unerringly  known  apart  from  its  fruits.  Some- 
thing very  like  it  may  develop  the  false  prophet  or 
the  unspiritual  accomplisher  of  great  things.  Yet 
while  that  feeling  is  undeveloped  we  must  appro- 
priate it  and  act  upon  it.  No  wonder  the  Saviour 
enjoins  great  care  in  entering  the  strait  gate,  for 
many,  with  heedless  mistaking  of  the  true  spirit, 
fail  to  find  it. 

We  do  not  seek  this  gate,  however,  altogether 
blindly.  There  are  characteristics  by  which  the 
true  heart,  without  waiting  for  the  event,  may 
know  the  way  of  life.     Those  who  by  their  enthu- 


158  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

siasm  become  false  prophets,  or  build  a  delusive 
hope  on  their  success,  have  only  themselves  to 
blame  for  missing  the  way  of  life.  Some  base  ad- 
mixture has  mingled  itself  witTi  their  motives  for 
seeking  the  narrow  gate  ;  and  with  a  selfish  bias 
they  have  entered  the  wrong  portal.  It  is  by  the 
purest  intuition  alone  that  the  way  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  can  be  seen  in  its  beginnings ;  the  pure  in 
heart  see  God.  That  initial  and  most  healthful 
impulse  of  the  human  soul  by  which,  apart  from 
conventional  and  selfish  considerations,  we  judge 
right  and  wrong  must  never  be  denied.  It  is  the 
voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  obedience  which 
is  susceptible  to  the  knowledge  of  God  is  faithful- 
ness to  our  highest  intuitions.  If  the  Jews  had 
preserved  and  been  faithful  to  their  truest  intui- 
tions, instead  of  becoming  entangled  in  their  con- 
ventional notions  of  piety,  they  would  have  known 
Jesus  simply  by  his  divine  goodness,  and  not  have 
rejected  him.  It  is  not  by  conventional  signs  that 
the  strait  gate  is  found,  but  by  the  sincere  in- 
tuition of  a  pure  heart. 

3.  The  final  test,  however,  of  true 
Ver.  24-27  obedience  is  harmony  with  Christ's 
teachings.  "  Every  one  therefore 
which  heareth  these  words  of  mine,  and  doeth 
them,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  wise  man  which  built 
his  house  upon  the  rock."  That  trustful  accept- 
ance of  ideal  goodness  which  so  penetrates  the 
heart  as  to  produce  actual  conformity  in  life  with 
the  sayings  of  Christ  is  shown  to  be  a  solid  founda- 
tion. Such  religious  life  the  storms  of  hardship 
and  passion  do  not  shake.      It  shows  an  obedience 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIENCE  I  59 

which  is  true  and  spiritual,  and  which  also  brings 
all  the  selfish  propensities  into  subjection  to  it,  so 
as  to  produce  outward  conduct  in  a  line  with  the 
Saviour's  character. 

Observe  the  two  ways  in  which  the  development 
of  obedience  may  be  conceived  of.  That  obedience 
which  is  mechanical  conformity  to  prescribed  rules 
puts  hearing  and  doing  at  the  beginning.  This  is 
not  its  final  test  and  glory,  this  is  its  first  act. 
But  if  we  were  looking  for  the  power  of  such  obe- 
dience to  develop  human  character,  our  question 
would  be,  "How  much  of  the  inward  spirit  and 
higher  discernment  does  such  obedience  create.'" 
It  begins  with  the  outside,  how  deep  does  it  strike 
in  .''  This  was  the  test  by  which  the  worth  of  the 
Mosaic  economy  was  judged.  Given  the  positive 
precept  and  its  conservation,  how  much  of  the 
nature  of  God  will  people  learn  from  his  law } 
The  lawgiver  might  say,  "Whosoever  heareth  these 
words  of  mine,  and  becometh  of  one  mind  with 
me  in  the  control  of  his  own  life,  he  it  is  who  is 
solidly  founded."  In  such  a  system  of  positive 
commands  an  outward  law  was  given,  and  its  task 
was  to  produce  an  inward  spirit,  and  a  developed 
moral  intelligence.  Its  crown  and  test  would  be 
its  inward  results. 

But  the  obedience  taught  by  Christ  begins  with 
the  inward.  It  is  primarily  a  new  heart  and  an 
aspiring  spirit.  The  test  of  its  completeness  is 
outward  deeds  in  conformity  with  the  teachings  of 
Christ.  Given  the  spirit  of  the  Beatitudes  in  the 
person's  heart,  how  much  and  what  will  it  make 
him  do  .-*     It  begins  at  the  center,  how  efficiently 


l60    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

does  it  work  out  ?  If  it  only  makes  a  false  prophet 
or  a  selfish  wonder-worker  of  the  man,  it  is  not 
the  solid  foundation.  The  true  development  of  a 
character  which  begins  in  spiritual  enthusiasm  is 
seen  in  every-day  Christlike  deeds. 

And  this  is  a  real  test,  because  in  thus  obeying 
God  the  person  is  doing  his  own  will.  When  he 
has  risen  to  the  level  of  such  obedience  he  does 
not  wait  to  hear  the  positive  command  ;  he  acts  of 
his  own  sanctified  purpose.  He  is  following  out 
the  promptings  of  a  new  nature.  As  the  observ- 
ance of  commands  in  their  spirit  becomes  more 
habitual  the  pressure  of  the  higher  will  upon  the 
conduct  is  less  consciously  felt,  and  the  progress 
is  toward  greater  spontaneity  and  second  tiature. 
As  this  second  nature  freely  expands,  the  question 
of  interest  with  regard  to  it  is,  "  How  vital  a  sim- 
ilarity to  Christ's  teachings  will  result  from  such 
self-chosen  conduct  ?  "  A  real  test  of  spontaneous 
goodness  is  its  conformity  to  the  words  of  Christ. 

But  if  it  abides  the  test  it  indicates  a  glorious 
thing.  It  shows  not  merely  subserviency  to,  but 
oneness  with,  Christ.  Not  only  is  the  person  sub- 
dued to  his  will,  but  he  is  a  sharer  in  his  nature. 
Christ  has  come  actually  to  dwell  in  him.  To  them 
who  believe  is  given  power  to  be- 
Koinonia,  come  SOUS  of  God.  They  have  a 
I  John  I  :  3  fellowship,  or  sharing  of  spirit  with 
him :  they  are  doing  his  will  from 
their  own  independent  perception  of  its  wisdom 
and  fitness.  They  are  raised  to  the  level  of  asso- 
ciates, embracing"  the  same  infinite  ends,  cherish- 
ing the  same  loving  and  heavenly  purposes,  and 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIEXCE  l6l 

using  their  own  sanctified  judgment  in  every  new 
juncture  of  circumstance  and  civilization  to  carry 
them  out.  Thus  their  obedience  is  not  the  obe- 
dience of  servants,  but  the  obedience 
of  friends.  "  Ye  are  my  friends,"  joim  15  :  14 
says  Jesus,  "if  ye  do  the  things 
which  I  command  you."  A  character  which  ex- 
hibits this  indication  of  free,  unconstrained  move- 
ment in  a  Hne  with  the  spirit  of  Christ  is  the 
cliaracter  which  is  likened  to  a  house  built  on  the 
rock.  And  the  character  which,  whatever  the  fer- 
vency of  its  initial  glow  of  feeling,  consists  only 
in  hearing  and  not  doing,  is  likened  to  the  house 
built  on  sand  ;  the  rains  descend,  and  the  floods 
come,  and  the  winds  blow,  and  smite  upon  that 
house,  and  it  falls  with  a  great  and  melancholy 
fall. 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  a  fundamental 
law  in  this  sense,  that  it  is  a  definition  of  the  rela- 
tion of  human  subjects  to  the  will  of  their  divine 
King.  It  is  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  the  letters  patent  of  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  hath  made  us  free.  It  enters  into  the 
practical  relations  of  life  as  a  leavening  spirit 
whereby  all  obedience  is  transfigured,  and  all  true 
character  made  godlike.  It  is  not  simply  a  re-en- 
acting of  the  old  law  in  more  spiritual  form,  so 
that  it  shall  rest  on  the  conscience  in  the  same 
way  in  which  positive  precepts  press  upon  it.  To 
erect  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  that  basis  would 
simply  be  to  begin  a  development  of  the  same  es- 
sential nature  as  the  old  theocracy,  and  destined 

L 


1 62    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

to  end  in  the  same  bondage  which  was  found  to 
result  from  the  Jewish  law.  Christian  precepts 
and  institutions  henceforth  appeal  to  the  obedience 
by  their  idea  or  spu'it,  which  the  enlightened  con- 
science has  come  to  comprehend,  rather  than  by 
sheer  weight  of  authority.  Thus  the  Christian  is 
obeying  God,  but  he  is  at  the  same  time  discover- 
ing his  own  way  and  creating  his  own  institutions 
by  the  indwelling  spirit  which  has  become  the 
heart  of  his  own  character. 

Yet  this  free  obedience  does  not  discard   the 

specific  precepts  of  the  olden  time.     The  teaching 

of  Christ  always  remains  true,  "  If 

Matt.  19  :  17  thou  wouldest  enter  into  life,  keep 
the  commandments."  The  spon- 
taneous obedience  of  love  does  not  need  the  an- 
nulment of  the  law  as  a  law  in  order  to  the  free 
exercise  of  aspiration  and  spiritual  judgment.  But 
it  enters  into  the  reasons  for  those  commands,  and 
adopts  them  with  the  same  motive  and  spirit  with 
which  they  were  revealed.  It  does  not  dispense 
with  authority,  but  it  counts  its  faith  incomplete 
until  it  has  seen  the  reasons  for  believing  and  obey- 
ing, and  has  assented  because  of  its  own  glad  per- 
ception of  the  end  to  be  attained. 

Nor  is  the  spirit  of  obedience  under  this  Magna 
Charta  of  Christian  liberty  always  quarreling  with 
the  existing  Use  and  Wont,  that  it  may  establish 
a  better  way  of  its  own.  Much  of  that  "  cake  of 
custom  "  into  which  at  any  period  the  impulses  of 
society  have  solidified  is  purely  conventional  habit. 
The  prevailing  custom  may  have  had  its  sufficient 
reason  for  existing  once,  but   that   reason   is   no 


THE    SUSCEPTIBILITY    OF    OBEDIENCE  1 63 

longer  discoverable.  Yet  its  established  existence 
gives  it  binding  force.  Obligations  and  restraints 
of  particular  kinds  rest  on  men  simply  because 
they  belong  to  a  particular  form  of  civilization. 
These  have  a  de  facto  authority  as  recognized  and 
expected  usages.  Many  of  these  restraints  of 
custom  belong  almost  obviously  to  an  imperfect 
order  of  things  ;  and  yet  it  may  so  happen  that 
the  Christian  of  the  Beatitudes  does  not  have  the 
perception  of  their  lack  of  absolute  fitness.  The 
child  of  the  same  influences  which  produced  the 
existing  custom,  he  may  enthusiastically  follow- 
that  custom  as  the  will  of  God.  It  is  not 
given  to  many  to  become  reconstructors  of  society. 
That  which  men  expect,  if  it  be  not  at  war  with 
the  conscience,  may  be  a  real  obligation  ;  the  love 
for  the  weaker  brother  may  lead  even  to  an  abridg- 
ment of  liberty  for  the  sake  of  avoiding  occasions 
of  stumbling.  Some  of  the  Christian's  own  dis- 
ciplinary habits  may  be  so  mechanical  as  to  be  a 
disturbing  reminder  of  his  imperfection  ;  but  yet 
he  may  need  them,  and  may  reach  upward  through 
them  toward  a  perfect  righteousness  which  is  per- 
fect freedom.  The  question  is  not  alone,  how 
near  to  the  final  consummation  are  the  institutions 
which  the  person  shall  respect,  nor  how  near  the 
absolute  truth  are  the  beliefs  to  which  he  is  edu- 
cated, but  especially  in  what  spirit  he  obeys  that 
form  of  teaching  whereunto  he  was 
delivered.  If  it  gives  opportunity  Rom.  6  :  17 
according  to  his  limited  mind  for 
the  perfect  obedience,  then  it  is  sufficient  for  his 
sanctification.     There   is    always    the    law-making 


164    MAGNA    CHARTA    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD 

power  in  the  heart  ;  and  this,  though  mainly  occu- 
pied in  enabling  the  man  to  see  through  his  own 
eyes  the  fitness  and  binding  force  of  the  morality 
of  his  time,  has  the  strength,  when  custom  shall 
become  insincere  and  evil,  to  break  it  up  and  in- 
terpret for  itself  anew  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Thus 
Christian  society  under  this  charter  has  perpetual 
power  to  renew  itself  ;  as  its  customs  become  bur- 
densome they  may  be  replaced  by  the  re-adapted 
creations  of  the  enlightened  understanding. 

Thus  obedience  rises  by  faithfulness  to  the  ob- 
ligations which  are  next  at  hand  to  the  higher  con- 
ception of,  and  conformity  to,  the  will  of  God. 
Never  idly  waiting  for  the  perfect  to  come  before 
it  begins  to  act,  it  is  always  above  all  things  obe- 
dient, always  fulfilling  conscientiously  the  less  per- 
fect, that  thus  it  may  rise  to  the  comprehension  of 
the  more.  Thus  the  force  of  Christlike  enthu- 
siasm and  love,  which  is  creating  and  renewing 
Christian  customs,  is  a  building  and  establishing, 
rather  than  a  revolutionary  force,  and  it  contains  in 
itself  the  power,  by  perpetual  self-renewal,  to  bring 
in  at  last  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth. 

Will  ye  renounce  this  pact  of  creatureship  ? 
The  pattern  on  the  Mount  subsists  no  more, 
Seemed  awhile,  then  returned  to  nothingness  ; 
But  copies,  Moses  strove  to  make  thereby. 
Serve  still  and  are  replaced  as  time  requires  ; 
By  these,  make  newest  vessels,  reach  the  type  ! 
If  ye  demur,  this  judgment  on  your  head, 
Never  to  reach  the  ultimate,  angels'  law, 
Indulging  every  instinct  of  the  soul 
There  where  law,  life,  joy,  impulse  are  one  thing  ! 

— Browning. 


Date  Due 

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